Question:
Just want you all to know that complaints to postmasters work. This in my mailbox from a large provider, when they received a forwarded post containing an ad in our newsgroup: "Thanks for letting us know about this. As this user has made such posts repeatedly, we have disabled their account, and will not reenable it until we are certain they understand Netiquette and our policy." It works, it’s fairly painfree, it is a tiny amount of sweeping up to do. Complain about an ad today! —
Response:
> Just want you all to know that complaints to postmasters work. This in my > mailbox from a large provider, when they received a forwarded post containing an > ad in our newsgroup: > "Thanks for letting us know about this. As this user has made such posts > repeatedly, we have disabled their account, and will not reenable it until we > are certain they understand Netiquette and our policy." > It works, it’s fairly painfree, it is a tiny amount of sweeping up to do. > Complain about an ad today!
offenders account has been terminated. As Paul so rightly points out it is so painless for us and because of the number of complaints that the postmaster gets somthing is done QUICKLY. Hopfully postmasters around the web will find cluttering up precious band width. I keep my advertising on my web pages so people can CHOOSE to have a look at what I do rather than having it thrust down their modems throats. Regards Graham > —
– Graham Sorenson Natures Gifts, Essential Oils Guide to Aromatherapy URL http://www.dircon.co.uk/home/philrees/fragrant/index.html
Response:
The big problem is that there are now so many bozos posting ads to misc.health.alternative (indeed all of USENET), that new bozos can (quite convincingly) say "I saw lots of other similar ads here, so I thought it was an OK thing to do." — Steve Dyer
Response:
>The big problem is that there are now so many bozos posting ads to >misc.health.alternative (indeed all of USENET), that new bozos can >(quite convincingly) say "I saw lots of other similar ads here, so >I thought it was an OK thing to do." This is absolutely true, Steve. In fact, I received just such a response from one of these ‘hucksters’ the other day who claimed that they had read the group for some time and felt their ‘contribution’ fit right-in. Usually, I get the "Sorry, I didn’t know"…less commonly, the defensive "It’s none of your business" and the "We offer help to those who need it" (which I received just yesterday)…and amazingly, one that just ‘arrived’ as I’m writing this (re: DHEA)! Frankly, while I _always_ send a copy of my complaint to the respective postmaster, I haven’t had the ‘luck’ that people are reporting. IOW, the carriers are less responsive than they should be…IF it made a difference to them. Only Prodigy (1x) has ever responded personally saying that the person who advertised has been ‘notified.’ AOL…an automated response saying how to ’sign-up’ and ‘how busy they are’ in terms of responding to complaints. Netcom…nothing. This is almost more distres- sing than the individual advertisers…since at this point, Usenet is pretty much dependent on self-policing….apparently. JB.
Response:
I disagree. I don’t mind seeing ads on newsgroups. I don’t find it difficult to simply not read the posts that I’m not interested in, and I’m glad for ads which make products available at better prices than are available other places. I wonder how many people who complain about ads are competitors who don’t like the competition.
Response:
>I wonder how many people who complain about ads are competitors who don’t >like the competition.
I wonder how many people who support it want to advertise? I hate advertising in a place where it doesn’t belong. And they don’t say ADVERTISEMENT: in the subject. Businesses don’t own the whole world. I can see them trying to advertise in bibles if that was tolerated too.
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