FLAME ABOUT COMMERCIALS IN EMAIL [Books Account: Technical books]

[Norman Joseph]

baxter at robespierre.ICS.UCI.EDU (Ira Baxter) writes:

>I DO NOT THINK WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE COMMERCIALS IN NEWSGROUPS.
                                                   ^^^^^^^^^^
I tend to agree, but I thought you said this showed up in e-mail?

>I received the following today:
>     [...]

>     Hello.  I saw your name in  comp.unix.i386.

>     Would you be interested in receiving periodic email announcements about
>     new technical books in your field?  If so, can you send a note to me?
>     Thank you.

Looks like harmless junk mail.  The Post Office delivers pounds of
it to me (and I'm sure to you) monthly.  I usually throw it away.
If you're really offended, reply to the sender and ask him to remove
your name from his mailing list.

>DON'T RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THIS UNLESS YOU WANT NEWSGROUPS EVENTUALLY
>BURIED UNDER SUCH COMMERCIAL REQUESTS.           ^^^^^^^^^^

Maybe you mean "newsgroup -readers-".

>Now, I do sympathize with commercial vendors *answering*
>questions posed on newsgroups... as long as the questions
>are posed by legitimate users.

Now -there's- an interesting scenario.  One marketing jockey plays the
"stooge" and feeds loaded questions to a newsgroup where the other
marketing jockey is standing by ready to post the answers that will
"prove" the superiority of Product X.  Now -that- would be something
to start a diatribe over.

But, of course, in some other newsgroup ...
-- 
Norm Joseph - Oglevee Computer System, Inc.
  UUCP: ...!{pitt,cgh}!amanue!oglvee!norm
    "Whaddya mean he had bullet holes in his mirror?"