[thelist] RE: sending mail to someone you've never met
ANDREA STREIGHT
astreight at msn.com
Fri Oct 1 00:52:21 CDT 2004
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*
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