[thelist] RE: sending mail to someone you've never met

[ANDREA STREIGHT]

I'm sorry that in my haste to be helpful, I failed to really emphasize that 
you cannot send email to anybody you want to, that you must have an 
established business relationship with them, or explicit permission to send 
email on a specific topic.

The ftc.gov web site has full details of the U.S. spam (UCE) laws.

Here's an embarrassing problem I just encountered recently: someone emails 
me about an article of mine they read and enjoyed. They request a form 
mentioned in the article. I send that form, plus several more, just to be 
generous and helpful. I ask permission to send sporadic land mail 
newsletters. They give me permission.

Then later I send them a gmail invitation. I get an email from the person 
telling me to refrain from sending such messages to them in the future. Not 
angry, but not friendly either. Cold. Short. Like I was a gmail salesman 
trying to make a fast buck. But I get no reward or anything from it. Just 
trying to be nice. Gmail is free, it's sought after, and it's sort of cool 
in a hip way, according to some. I emailed an apology and explained I did 
not mean to displease the person, nor do I ever send Unsolicited Commercial 
Email. To my mind, the gmail invite was not commercial.

Why would Google distribute gmail invites if sending them out to friends or 
clients or peers is spam?

Anyone have a comment on this?


Steven Streight
STREIGHT SITE SYSTEMS
Web Usability Analysis
Web Content Writing
Online & Direct Marketing

astreight at msn.com

www.vaspersthegrate.blogspot.com  *Web Usability*

www.streightsite.blogspot.com  *Mentally Correct Marketing*

www.stcsig.org/usability/newsletter/0408-user-observation.html  *latest 
published online article*