X-Message-Number: 31232
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <>
Subject: Re: My Cryonics e-newsletter came through formatted well, no ...
Date: Thu,  4 Dec 2008 13:10:07 -0500 (EST)

 wrote:
> Content was reasonably informative, only occasionally populist, and
> clearly did not do a disservice to the field of cryonics.  You may
> disagree with this.  And, you are welcome to.

Spam is primarily about consent, not content.  Sending unsolicited
bulk email, especially to people who have made very clear that they
don't want it, is extremely rude, and, as I said, is positioning one's
product in a category with bogus medical products, phishing, pyramid
schemes, and myriads of other scams and frauds.  Many people already
think cryonics is probably a scam.  Touting it via spamming will
confirm that opinion.

> And, you are also welcome to document exactly what YOU have
> personally done to promote the field of cryonics except bitch at
> folks on cryonet recently.

I have traveled thousands of miles to science fiction conventions,
then spent my time sitting behind a cryonics table rather than
having fun.  I have co-hosted cryonics parties at such conventions.
I have been president and secretary of LES, the DC-area cryonics
organization.  I have hosted LES meetings in my apartment.  I run
an email list and website for LES.  For many years I hosted the
complete, indexed, archives of Cryonet on the web, and caused them
to get highly ranked by search engines.  (The last caused numerous
contributors to demand I excise all of their posts from the archives,
as they were the first thing that appeared when people did a search
on their name.   Since this would have mangled the archives into
uselessness, I eventually took them down.)  I have given talks on
cryonics at various organizations.  I have been interviewed about
cryonics by reporters, and quoted about it in newspapers including
the front page of the Washington Post.

But if I can succeed in preventing cryonics from being touted via
spam, I think that will do more benefit than everything else I've
done put together.

What have you ever done, other than sell insurance, no doubt at a
tidy profit?

> I agree we need professionalism and image.

And nothing shouts "professionalism" like unsolicited bulk email,
except maybe bathroom graffiti.

> And, admit, you were a bit titalated at this, even if you knew better.

No.

> "Well done, guys...I will email you privately with some ideas you
> may want to consider in future mailings, but THANK YOU for stepping
> up to the plate and trying to do SOMETHING to make a positive
> impact ..."

The syllogism is as follows?

Something should be done.
Spamming is something.
Therefore spamming should be done.

> I liked my email newsletter.  And if I didn't, I have a delete key.

"Just press delete" is another mantra of spammers.  In an ideal world,
spammers would be sentenced to jail with a terminal, and told to "just
press delete" once for every spam they ever sent.  Twice a day they'd
get a message that their meal was ready, and if they deleted *that*
message, they'd skip that meal, so they'd better pay attention, as
everyone else who uses email has to.  Many spammers would be unable
to complete this sentence in a natural lifetime.

> Despite some feedback, you are not spamming...you are promoting.

Nearly all spam is promoting something.  What is your definition of
spam, such that this newsletter doesn't qualify?

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