Warning!
This is about "legal" issues, customers rights and obligations.
And also a bit long....
Can Google please remove what I consider unfair restrictions and
threats?
I have a problem with the "text of a page"
"Your request to invite .. new members has been flagged"
The interesting part is
".. Google takes a very dim view of Spam. The people you invite must
know you and be expecting your message. If they complain, you will be
banned from our service and your group will be deleted."
Yes, Google takes a strong stand against SPAM but I find it abusive
toward normal well intentioned users.
Am I a well intentioned user?
I was asked to set up a mailing list for people in my area that are
interested in raw-food. There is no formal organization or membership,
only some mail that gets sent and then forwarded in a very chaotic
manner. People are getting information late or not at all. A Google
Group would be useful, to say the least.
Now to my problem.
I was trying to send out invitations.
I got a page:
> Your request to invite 37 new members has been flagged
> for review by our staff.
(Is it because of the non english text in the group's description?)
It also says:
> The people you invite must know you
This is unreal. Persons managing groups often do not know all the
potential members personally but rather indirectly through a third
party or some affiliation / organization.
I am not comfortable with saying that I know someone when I don't.
I am doing this as a service to an informal group of about 200 people
and I do not know all of them.
> (The people you invite must) .. be expecting your message.
They are not all expecting an invitation to the list/group, they don't
yet know it exists. I would think that a letter informing people about
a list/group should include the option to join.
And then:
> If they complain, you will be banned from our service
> and your group will be deleted.
What?
This is not acceptable.
How can anyone guaranty that no one will complain?
I am certainly not willing to risk my gmail account to find out.
If for some reason a person would be displeased that I am sending them
an invitation, they are not informed that by reporting the "abuse"
they are killing my gmail account and the Google group.
Importantly there is no option in the invitation email to say "No
Thank You" (only "accept this invitation" "create Google Account" and
"this message is abuse").
Not even instructions to "Delete this message to do nothing"
In real life people do not read mail carefully. If they do not
understand they will delete the mail or choose some option like for
example "Unwanted". So for my target audience, that is not native
english speaking, I fear "false complaints".
What to do?
I recommend changing
> The people you invite must know you
> and be expecting your message.
and
> If they complain, you will be banned from our service
> and your group will be deleted
To something like:
You are only allowed to use a this service in a lawful and non abusive
way. Abusers accounts and groups of will be suspended or termianted.
An alternative could be to some how add the word affiliation to the
first part. One could make the second part less threatening by saying
that complaints would initiate a SPAM review process ...
I dislike SPAM and other abusive behavior.
On the other hand the environment provided to the general public
should be free of unfair restrictions and obligations or threats.
Good lawyers can clearly articulate the customers rights without
taking away Googles tools in the fight against SPAM.
Can Google please fix this.
