Comments on: Activewords Spam?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Jun 2002 15:53:50 +0000

Guys, are you forgetting that Lockergnome published an offer from ActiveWords over a year ago, where ActiveWords gave away a free copy of their software to Lockergnome subscribers? That's how I first heard of them, and I live and die by their software (I find it very useful for what I do).
When a company gives away their software for free, no one is naive enough to think that it's really FREE right? There's always a cost involved. In this case, ActiveWords gave away free copies of their software in order to get names and email addresses that they could use to promote upgrades down the road. It's a “loss leader” – they take a loss on potential sales NOW in order to potential make some money down the road when people are addicted to using the product. Is there anything wrong with that? I don't think so – it's business. These guys have a good product and deserve to stay in business.
I hate spam as much as the rest of you (perhaps more so) but I think that Jake is over reacting and perhaps even Activewords themselves are forgetting where they got these names from originally…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Jun 2002 02:33:47 +0000

Bulk Mail is a sensitive topic. I've got first hand experience working with clients who send mailings to over 5,000,000 willing/subscribed recipients per week. Things like “double opt-in” and “proof of consent” come into play. When ISPs get involved, they scan those messages and accuse every party mentioned of playing a role, and they've got to scramble to prove themselves legit quickly or run the risk of losing their bandwidth.
Bob, you'd get a better understanding of the severity of this if you worked in the industry. Until then, I can see why you couldn't possibly understand the importance. Jake certainly had cause for concern.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jun 2002 16:13:49 +0000

Bob, do you not understand the ramifications that an e-mail like this has on a company such as Lockergnome, whose survival depends on being able to send out legitimately requested e-mails?
I don't see any indication from his post that Jake overreacted in his communications with any of the parties. If you think he's overreacting in his post, well, then so be it. It's his own blog and his own forum to post whatever he chooses. As far as the business/relationship thing, if there were any missteps in this case, it does not appear that they were taken by any members of the Lockergnome staff… who were unaware that the LG name was being used at all.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jun 2002 12:28:43 +0000

Massive over-reaction on jake's part looks like to me. He'll get the hang of the business/relationship thing when he's a bit older.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jun 2002 04:47:46 +0000

Wow…