Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 11:47:30 -0500 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Request for opinions: what is spam Message-ID: <3BE81422.7080304@potentialtech.com>
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I've been having a tough couple of months and I just had some things happen today that are causing me to re-evaluate some of my beliefs. One thing, central to this, is where do you draw the line between promotion and spam? I'll give the example that really got me thinking: Got an email today through the "moreinfo@" address for my company, which is listed on the web site on the contact page. The email stated that "I got your email from a list server". Now, technically this is a lie, because the "moreinfo@" address is _never_ used to _send_ mail, so it would never appear on any list server. I can see what _might_ have been done, however. Notice my sig below. Now, that'll be on list servers for any list I post to and this guy may have stopped by the web site, checked out the contact page for the address, and sent me the mail. So my first question is: "Is this spam?" But the deeper, underlying question is: "Where do I draw the line with promotional activities?" This is _the_ key question for my business right now, because we _must_ promote to be successful, but there are obviously some ways of promotion that are simply unethical. An example is that I recently posted to the jobs@freebsd.com list an announcement about my company and that we're seeking new customers. To me, that's what that particular list is for. I would never have posted such an announcement to questions@ or any other FreeBSD list. I received one complaint that it was an inapprorpiate posting, and while I don't know how many people subscribe to that list, I'm assuming that that's a pretty low percentage that I offended. (On the flip side, I'm wishing I had never posted it, since it resulted in no new business for me. IOW it was totally ineffective and made me 1 enemy) I don't want to get too long winded at this point, but beyond the spam questions, what kind of promotion do you guys consider legetimate and what do you consider "over the top"? How about cold-calling? Our current budget simply won't allow for magazine or similar advertising at this point, so what should we do? -- Bill Moran Potential Technology http://www.potentialtech.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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