Maybe not the best customer relations
cl...@freenet.msp.mn.us
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Speaking of strange impressions about how e-mail lists work. A few
months ago we had a subscriber on MN-POLITICS who started
"harvesting" the e-mail address of posters to our list for his
bosses political newsletter list. People starting complaining on
our forum and to Minnesota E-Democracy privately. If this became a
regular practice it would kill our forum by driving subscribers away
for fear of spam.
We went back and forth a few times and at one point I received the
best insult I have ever received online:
> What you really are, is a pompous little twerp, who ought to be
> spanked by his mommy.
Basically I suggested that he not "slam" people onto his list and
that if he wanted to contact them that he should at least allow them
to opt in.
We then had a MN-POLITICS subscriber threaten to mailbomb him which
came to our attention. Mick Souder, the official list manager
(E-Democracy's Vice Chair), then gave them both an ultimatum and said
stop collecting addresses and no mailbombing or you are both gone.
The kicker came at the end when in a note Mick the collector
suggested that they would take some of my advice, but disclosed that
they thought the MN-POLITICS posters were his bosses "supporters"
because they had received e-mail from them.
Steven Clift
P.S. E-mail list owners can be humbled though. While starting up the
government online effort in Minnesota a few years ago, I created an
e-mail list called GOV-NET for government-wide sites around the
world. I must have attracted about 300 folks from close to 40
countries. When I opened the list, it when into a mail loop right
after I logged off for the day. I remember my deflation when I
realized what was happening and read the note from Argentina, "Why
are you doing this to us?" I almost brought down the e-mail systems
of a few national governments with those few thousand messages.
-------------------------------------------------------
Steven L. Clift, Director, Democracies Online
3454 Fremont Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408 USA
Tel: 612-824-3747 E: cl...@freenet.msp.mn.us
http://www.e-democracy.org/do/ - Democracies Online
http://freenet.msp.mn.us/people/clift/ - Home Page
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