Common Sense in the Business Market

 by Nita Holstine

   I just read another email telling me that I could legally own a descrambler. Well, technically yes, you can own one. You just cannot use it for the purpose intended. It is not what they say; it’s what they do not say. This person goes to great length to show how it has been determined that oh yes, it is legal. If so, why are there still any cable companies around. Why would they bother when someone could sell their service and they receive no money? This person offers “legal stuff” that cannot possibly be true. Just think about it, that’s common sense.

  Yahoo? Do you? Do you know that they limit the number of emails you can send and receive? No, it is not in the contract and you would never know except that I send out a lot of messages and it is easy to see whose mailbox is really full. Sometimes the service even will tell me that you have exceeded your daily limit. Same with the geocities websites. You are limited to a small number of visitors. Same with the search engines, when you reach your limit, your listing disappears. It’s not just Yahoo, many are the same and you won’t know it until someone tries to send you something and has to tell you later that you could not receive what they sent.

  There is a listing in my collection of paperdoll sites that is a geocities flop. I had to enclose a note that I had only been to the site once and after that, I was always told that they had exceeded their daily limit. I check now and then because it was some excellent content. I read through everything Google had about getting on the search. Same as all the rest. You have to agree to pay a set fee and when you exceed what you have agreed to pay for, you are cut off. They own many, many other search engines now and like all the others, they require that you have a separate website for each topic; you must also be spider friendly. If they take the right words out of context, you could become porn service offering services you don’t want to provide.

  If your message box is full, my email to you comes back as a “bounce back.” One of the bounce backs was from a new member using Bell South. There was a message asking if I knew of another method of reaching this person, would I let them know that they needed to empty their mailbox. That was a good laugh. I tried sending out the Friday night bounce backs on a Monday afternoon and there were four that did not come back again. Worth the effort but they won’t know why they got their edition on a Monday.

  I recently ran a search and opened a homesteading site that someone had put lots and lots of work into and were certainly hoping for the very best. Unfortunately, Yahoo decided this an excellent spot for some hardcore porn. The ads change so the chances are that the folks will never know what I saw instead of their page. Over half the open page was advertising. I left and went no further with their website. What a waste of all their work and I certainly never listed it on my favorites.

  When I had first looked for a service to send out our newsletter, I found Lycos/Topica. For free they said, just sign up. What I did was to find another mail out that used their service and what I did find was 2/3 lousy ads and very little content. The writer had no say in what was displayed and it was sent out on a completely bulk mailing, opt-in junk service.  

  I unsubscribed from PC Computing newsletter because the only software they were promoting was the one where anyone could send an email anonymously. These are the worst offenders. Why should it be acceptable to trick anyone into opening an email, I delete them the same. In their minds they have lowered me to their idiot status by making me look at their porn.

  The advertisers we list, hoping subscribers will visit and make purchases, are all part of Commission Junction. While I was at their site one day I decided to look around and see what else was offered. Yes, I can see why most of the ads coming through emails now are for Credit Cards and Debt Consolidation. That’s just another excuse to get another credit card. What a laugh. Have less debt by incurring more interest. Your monthly payment might be less for a little while but don’t count on it lasting. One day on the TV Judge Judy show, she made a comment about it not being legal to charge over 20% interest on a loan. She must not keep up with even Sears; their rate is 24%. But these offers pay so good that if someone sends out 2 million every day and they only get two responses, it will keep them in business. They print at the top of their message that you can unsubscribe by just asking. In the first place, they probably don’t have your address. They just send out what would amount to General Delivery. Your server picks it up and you get it. They may use the name of a reputable company just to get the email opened. If you respond, you are giving them your active address.

  There are lots of good folks that pay the bigger money and get my name and actual email address. They are told that I signed up for XYZ newsletters and it is okay to sell the mailing list. Well folks, there was never such a company and it is just another scam to get your money and take advantage of having bought my info from someone else. It will still get you no sales; just makes you look bad. One of the worst scammers has been Shag, it took nearly an act of Congress to get off their mailing list and even now they continue to sell my address. Their lure was a free camera. It was just another “free” offer where the postage and handling came to much more than the actual cost of such a camera. The highlight of laughter was when they sent out a special ad for Kraft Fooods. Such a laugh!!! My spell checker is having fits with that one. I am fairly sure that every visitor to someone’s Yahoo or MSN site or even if the only receive a message from someone with their addresses, they get put on the list that Yahoo and MSN sell. It is merely a matter of what they do not say much more than what they promise not to do to you.

  On days when I can, I keep notes on what all the junk bulk emails people are trying to sell. It went from “how many credit cards can you max out?” to “are you in dreadful debt? Consolidate, get out of debt.” They even try to tell you that you will have less debt if you combine your credit cards and pay for more interest. That makes no sense at all.