> But at the same time, I also have to realize why I'm in this business, and
> why we actually believe the "sales pitch" we give our business clients. As
> ISPs we should all be aware that we really are in the middle of a
> communications revolution. Sometimes I think we've become desensitized to
> it through over-exposure, but I can honestly say that the way I do business
> have changed dramatically over the last two years.
Does your acceptable use policy allow your business clients to send bulk,
unsolicited commercial e-mail using your facilities?
> I rely on e-mail very heavily for communicating with vendors, placing
> orders, and resolving customer issues. And it saves me enormous amounts of
> time. E-mail has become a business tool that I can't live with out. If it
> came down to a choice between giving up e-mail or my fax machine, I'd give
> up the fax.
<AOL>Me, too!</AOL>
However, look at what happened in the early days of the fax machine.
Junk faxes. There are now laws against this. Dealing with junk e-mail
is the number one customer service issue here. Far more than busy
signals, installation problems, or PM-3 modems going ADMIN.
> While I agree that none of us want Livingston to become a spam factory,
> e-mail has become a legitimate business tool. Receiving an unsolicited
> message from Livingston via e-mail isn't any different that receiving the
> unsolicited snail mail brochures that come from them on a periodic basis.
Yes it is. You don't get their snail-mail postage due. Their
telemarketers don't call you collect. E-mail is indeed a legitimate
business tool. Unsolicited, bulk, commercial e-mail is not. It is
pollution.
> If we start complaining about a targeted marketing message that is delivered
> by e-mail and followed up by a phone call (which proves the message wasn't
> just a random mailing), we reduce ourselves to the level of AOL users and
> deny the very benefits of the Internet which we work so hard to convey to
> our business customers.
You consider the sending of bulk, unsolicited, commercial e-mail to be
one of the very benefits of the Internet and you're working hard to
convey this to your business customers? Really?
> When it comes to business, if a company can't
> prospect online or translate their Internet investment to sales dollars, why
> should they pay us for the service?
Certainly, translating the investment to sales dollars is one of the
primary reasons why businesses connect to the net. Prospecting online,
if it involves spam, is going over the edge.
> Anyway, just my $0.02. I'm not questiong your right to be upset with the
> message, or defending SPAM in general, but I hate to see an uproar over the
> use of the 'net in a legitimate business fashion. It's no longer an elite
> club, but a necesary business tool...and that's what's driving it's growth.
The issue is that of the "camel's nose under the tent" where once you
open the door to a little bit of spam, you're buried in it.
-- Jay Hennigan jay@west.net --
WestNet: Internet service to Santa Barbara, Ventura and the world.
805-892-2133 805-289-1000 805-578-2121
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