Lighten up...is it evil to try to make a buck?

[Kelly Thompson <kthompson -at- SNEEZY -dot- AUTOSIM -dot- COM>]

I definitely have a strong opinion:  this is simply the most rude and immature
ploy I have ever seen.  What these people did was much worse than posting a
simple ad.  This kind of behavior is pedestrian at best.  Hopefully this person
is not as vindictive as those who sent all of these messages, since retaliation
via the internet is not uncommon and can be absolutely devastating to the
sender's computer system.

Perhaps we should all remember that there are fallible humans behind these
faceless email addresses--an educating email or a simple reminder would most
likely be more than sufficient.  In addition, many internet users are
accustomed to the "free" atmosphere on the internet.  On most internet forums,
users are free to do whatever they choose.  Very rarely have I run onto a
moderated list, and for newer users, they may not even know what a moderated
list is.

As this technology develops and more and more people are surfing the internet,
we must all be cautious about how we act (or rather react) or the internet will
become just as violent and polluted as the real world.



On Feb 21,  4:23pm, Steve English wrote:
> Subject: Advertising on the list (Was: Stefan Olson)
> Doug Bailey wrote,

>         >     Does anyone else have any opinions? Should people like this be
rem
> oved
>         >     from the list?

>         I don't think he should be removed.  We all can delete/ignore his
posts
> if
>         we
>         like.  He may be breaking some minor rules by advertising,

> Doug,

> I am also a member of a list for Framemaker. Recently, a "gentleman" posted
> an advertisement for incense to our list. We were incensed. The way we
> decided to respond to this (and future) j-mail was for each of us to send
> the offender 3 or 4 responses. Each response was to have a different subject
> header (so he couldn't simply delete similar titles-- had to open and read
> each one to make sure it wasn't an order), and each was to include noise:
> anything from "Please don't do this any more" to "You're a @#$%!" to "Here's
> a long press release from my company, hope you enjoy it".

> Since there are over 700 people on the framers list, this guy got over
> 2,000 pieces of j-mail himself. His mailbox overflowed.

> For someone with true internet access, this type of response is simply a
> major nuisance: one has to scan through all kinds of noise to find genuine
> reponses to one's advertisement. Done properly, this can burn up hours.

> In this case, however, the guy had a Prodigy or aol address (I forget which),
> meaning he PAID for the privilege of receiving each snowflake in the
> avalanche. We haven't heard from him since.

> I don't agree that advertising in a discussion group is breaking a minor
rule.
> If we stomp on this sort of thing now, maybe it won't grow into the nuisance
> that telephone solicitation and fourth-class postage have become.



> Steve English                    My employers HAVE no opinions.
>-- End of excerpt from Steve English




--
********************************************************************************
 **
      Mr. Kelly Thompson                        Phone:  (801)298-1398 ext. 309
      Customer Support Engineer         Fax:       (801)298-8186
      AutoSimulations, Inc.                     Email:  kthompson -at- autosim -dot- com
      Bountiful, Utah
********************************************************************************
 **