Re: Network Advertising

[Laura Lemay <lemay -at- DEATH -dot- KALEIDA -dot- COM>]

>Suggest we develop a strategy to stop the improper use of this service by
>persons advertising products or services.
>1. We should verify that the advertiser's E-mail is correct.
>2. We should bombard the advertiser with E-mail messages.


As a long-time net user, I do not condone mailbombing, mostly because it
often has no affect on the actual offender (whose account is usually closed
down soon after the offending post), but the swarm of email through
the offender's SITE affects everyone else on that site.

In the case of the recent green-card lawyer mess (a lawyer posted an
ad for green card applications on every usenet newsgroup), the
site they posted from was shut down for several days due to mailbombing.
There were several hundred people on that site who were unable to use
it because of one user's stupidity.

In the case of the skin cream guy, the offender forwarded all his mail
to the first person who complained to him -- a guy at another site who
was then the recipient of everyone else's tirades and mailbombs.

Once again, a simple letter to the offender's postmaster and root usually
does the trick.  There is no need to resort to terrorist tactics,
regardless of how much better it makes you feel. :)

If the poster includes a business phone or fax number in the posting,
well then, thats different.


Relevent techwr-l content (sort of):  Am I the only one who refers to this
list by name as "tech whirl?"  :)


Laura, net.miss.manners