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Subject:Re: Advertising on the list (Was: Stefan Olson) From:"Arlen P. Walker" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 21 Feb 1995 17:07:00 -0600
Since there are over 700 people on the framers list, this guy got over
2,000 pieces of j-mail himself. His mailbox overflowed.
There's a side effect to this tactic. Namely, you make his provider so busy that
hundreds or even thousands of legitimate and innocent users cannot use the
internet as well. Rather like taking out a serial killer by A-bombing his city.
Messy. And very Tacky.
A better way is a simple note to his postmaster. Most service providers have
contract terms which forbid this kind of activity. Include a copy of the
offending message, and odds are very great that the service provider will kill
the account, with no "collateral damage."
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.
You don't pay for mail received on aol. Only for time connected. Since it takes
just a few seconds to see you want to delete a message you can kill ten or more
a minute. To put your "2000 pieces of j-mail" in perspective, it probably cost
him about $10. If he was willing to take the chance on missing a few legitimate
orders, probably less. Hardly a daunting sum. He disappeared not because of your
mail traffic, but because some of us told the postmaster about him, and his
account was suspended. And if he really was on aol (I remember the incident, but
frankly I've forgotten the address) then I resent your slowing my system down,
making me pay more money just so you could satisfy your juvenile outrage at
someone with no conection to me.
I don't agree that advertising in a discussion group is breaking a minor
rule.
To me it depends on the product. If it's related to the discussion group, it's a
minor irritation, perhaps a major blessing if it solves a problem I'm wrestling
with at the moment. If it's completely off-topic, it's much worse.
Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 24
Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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