Aw, hell... Nah, I was pretty nice to the guy.
To: "Dave & Karen Beightol" <beightol@thepoint.net> From: Dave Voorhis <sysadmin@armchair.mb.ca> Subject: Re: This is a legitimate Offer... At 07:38 PM 1/21/98 -0500, you wrote: >Hello again, > >I must say I was at my most aggrivated point in years, when I recieved your >first email. >I apologize for the harsh words... Apology accepted. >I am a very legit businessman. That is only true if your business is NOT entirely based on sending unsolicited commercial email. > I truely DID research before I sent the test >emails.. Then I am amazed that you weren't aware that you were sending Spam. >I really thought I was doing the right thing in the way in which I formated >the letter.. You think a mere wording change would change the nature of your email? That's like thinking that painting "Truck" on a bicycle would give it four wheels... >In the last couple hours, I have lost my entire domain, Virtual server, >email accounts, except for one temporarily... My online life (that I value >deeply) is suddenly over.. Again, I am amazed that one who claims to have an "online life" would not realize the folly of sending unsolicited commercial email. Let me ask you this: Have you received even ONE legitimate order from this? > All because I sent out 100 test messages >with a program I bought that was suppose to keep me in the clear.. You are aware, of course, that by "keeping you in the clear," the program means it attempts to HIDE your identity, to prevent people like me from finding out your REAL email address? >As far as your invoice goes, I guess I could file the same charges too.. As >I have not soliceted your services.. In court, I would argue otherwise. I would argue that you implicitly solicited my services by sending off-topic email to mailing lists at my site. You implicitly solicited my services by putting the burden of cost for distributing YOUR commercial mail on ME. When you send me one private email, we share the costs, which I accept as being an Internet citizen. When you send one email to one of my mailing lists, however, I am unfairly burdened with the costs of distributing that email to potentially thousands of subscribers. While I willingly accept the burden of cost for on-topic email, I do not choose to do so with off-topic email. Furthermore, had you done your research, you would have known that I explicitly make it known that there are costs for distributing unsolicited commercial email. Please see the link at the bottom of http://www.armchair.mb.ca/ >I made a mistake... I did not mean any harm to anyone... Now I am >finished... That should be enough to make you happy.. Perhaps your ill-conceived and illegitimate business is finished. Maybe now you can make a living like the rest of us by providing fair value for costs incurred. Do you realize that sending Spam simply puts the burden of cost on the rest of the Internet? >This is suppose to be a free country. I really thought it was OK to send A >legit offer.. >I guess I was wrong.. This is a free country. That does not mean you are free, however, to steal from me -- and that IS what you are doing, by not paying distribution costs for unwanted email. >Please let this issue die Now I will. >I have suffered enough for my simple miniscule mistake.. Well, if there is a positive to this, it is that maybe some would-be spamsters will learn something. I intend to turn this exchange (suitably anonymized) into a Web page, to warn other would-be distributors of unsolicted commercial email of what WILL happen if they try it. >Dave Beightol >infodud
Originally, I thought that was the end of it, but NO... There's more!