4 ms·

What an incredible response, have you not read it yourself? "Our subscribers are too important to us to ever sell their information to someone else. We never h

What an incredible response, have you not read it yourself? "Our subscribers are too important to us to ever sell their information to someone else. We never have and never will sell users information like that. Our only source of income is subscriptions and occasional advertisements in the free emails. Ruining our reputation to make a few extra bucks would be an extremely stupid decision on our end." Is at complete odds with: "With that said, we do run promotions with partners where we give away awesome vacation packages (Mexico and Tokyo recently). If anyone signs up for one of these promotions they are agreeing to the terms and conditions, which clearly state that by signing up for the giveaway the email address will be distributed to all of the partners involved in the giveaway (typically 4-5 other companies)." You literally sell their information to advertisers (oh no, sorry, your "partners") to make a buck. Acknowledge it, don't preface it with PR bull. What do you see as the difference between the first and the second paragraph? The fact that you only do it with people entering your promotions? Because that's still your users information. Yes it's in your TOS, you are still selling personal information to third parties and their unknown partners.

jwong_ 9y ago
Thanks for putting my feelings into words. And their partners are extremely spammy at best. They're all trying to force engagement and word of mouth. Here's an excerpt from one of the intro e-mails I got: > Welcome to the #SkimmLife! Here's how it's going to work: > We'll meet you back here, in your inbox, bright and early tomorrow morning (PS If it's Friday or a weekend, > you'll get theSkimm on Monday). We're a company that respects brunch, so we won't be with you on Saturday and > Sunday. Can't wait? Here's the most recent Skimm > Also, download our new app theSkimm for iPhone. It has a service called Skimm Ahead that makes it easier to > be smarter about the future. Never again will you miss moments like when you vote in a primary or when your > favorite show is back on Netflix. Best Part? It can integrate directly into your calendar. > Lastly, good things happen when you share theSkimm! (read: winning prizes, swag, being a Skimm'bassador). > To get credit for sharing, use your unique link: http://www.theskimm.com/?r=3cbcb2df OR our fancy invite page > to have friends sign up. See how many people listen to you by checking this page. > Your morning just got better. Trust us. edit: formatting
- munchman 9y ago
  barf
- exclusiv 9y ago
  Yeah further down they note: "We only try to partner with high quality companies. For example this Tokyo one were running right now is with journy, ProductHunt, theSkimm, The Wirecutter, and Conde Nast Traveler" I looked at theSkimm and can't figure out how it's related either. Just seems like an email acquisition bartering scheme.
  - petercooper 9y ago
    That's basically what it is. People who want to grow lists quickly all get together. The smaller lists pay for the prizes, the bigger lists pay with exposure. They all pitch a sweepstakes to their subscribers, all entrants end up subscribed to all lists.. everyone wins (allegedly).
    - exclusiv 9y ago
      I was talking with a younger relative this weekend who is in college and she mentioned TheSkimm and I immediately thought of this thread. Maybe the younger crowd who spends so much time with social apps and other noise find it highly valuable. There's probably a big distrust for mainstream sources which is not unwarranted.
- clay_to_n 9y ago
  FWIW theSkimm isn't outright spam - they're a fairly popular super-short newsletter that I think does a mix of world news and lifestyle / culture stuff, apparently marketed at women. I subscribe to Finimize (financial news) and Casual Spectator (sports), and theSkimm is often referenced as a similar newsletter. Not to diminish the annoyance of being on surprise email lists. I agree it's frustrating, and it sounds like Scott's Cheap Flights should have been more clear with their users about the price of their contests.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
joelrunyon 9y ago
The difference is that they're not selling people that sign up with them directly on SCF. They're using a promotional strategy to solicit signups in exchange for a giveaway (people have been doing this for years). They partner with several sites to promote this so everyone grows. Users are explicitly signing up for the giveaway & those TOS state the email will be distributed to the partners. They are not selling their current users information to partners. In other words, you might not like the promotion strategy, but that's a one-off, easy-to-change thing. They are not selling email addresses that they got directly via scottscheapflights.com - which is what the GP was insinuating (a bit dishonestly too). There's a big difference as what's actually happening can be a strategy that you dislike (and they might as well, depending on the outcome), but what the GP is insinuating is that SCF is actually SELLING the data, is completely incorrectly.
stavrus 9y ago
I'm not seeing how the two paragraphs are incongruous. The company is selling their brand, not the user info, when they run the promotions. If no-one signs up for the promotion, no user info gets shared. Ultimately it's the users who choose whether they want to sell themselves as a marketing lead in return for a slim chance at winning.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

jwong_ 9y ago

Thanks for putting my feelings into words. And their partners are extremely spammy at best. They're all trying to force engagement and word of mouth. Here's an excerpt from one of the intro e-mails I got: > Welcome to the #SkimmLife! Here's how it's going to work: > We'll meet you back here, in your inbox, bright and early tomorrow morning (PS If it's Friday or a weekend, > you'll get theSkimm on Monday). We're a company that respects brunch, so we won't be with you on Saturday and > Sunday. Can't wait? Here's the most recent Skimm > Also, download our new app theSkimm for iPhone. It has a service called Skimm Ahead that makes it easier to > be smarter about the future. Never again will you miss moments like when you vote in a primary or when your > favorite show is back on Netflix. Best Part? It can integrate directly into your calendar. > Lastly, good things happen when you share theSkimm! (read: winning prizes, swag, being a Skimm'bassador). > To get credit for sharing, use your unique link: http://www.theskimm.com/?r=3cbcb2df OR our fancy invite page > to have friends sign up. See how many people listen to you by checking this page. > Your morning just got better. Trust us. edit: formatting

munchman 9y ago
barf
exclusiv 9y ago
Yeah further down they note: "We only try to partner with high quality companies. For example this Tokyo one were running right now is with journy, ProductHunt, theSkimm, The Wirecutter, and Conde Nast Traveler" I looked at theSkimm and can't figure out how it's related either. Just seems like an email acquisition bartering scheme.
- petercooper 9y ago
  That's basically what it is. People who want to grow lists quickly all get together. The smaller lists pay for the prizes, the bigger lists pay with exposure. They all pitch a sweepstakes to their subscribers, all entrants end up subscribed to all lists.. everyone wins (allegedly).
  - exclusiv 9y ago
    I was talking with a younger relative this weekend who is in college and she mentioned TheSkimm and I immediately thought of this thread. Maybe the younger crowd who spends so much time with social apps and other noise find it highly valuable. There's probably a big distrust for mainstream sources which is not unwarranted.
clay_to_n 9y ago
FWIW theSkimm isn't outright spam - they're a fairly popular super-short newsletter that I think does a mix of world news and lifestyle / culture stuff, apparently marketed at women. I subscribe to Finimize (financial news) and Casual Spectator (sports), and theSkimm is often referenced as a similar newsletter. Not to diminish the annoyance of being on surprise email lists. I agree it's frustrating, and it sounds like Scott's Cheap Flights should have been more clear with their users about the price of their contests.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

joelrunyon 9y ago

The difference is that they're not selling people that sign up with them directly on SCF. They're using a promotional strategy to solicit signups in exchange for a giveaway (people have been doing this for years). They partner with several sites to promote this so everyone grows. Users are explicitly signing up for the giveaway & those TOS state the email will be distributed to the partners. They are not selling their current users information to partners. In other words, you might not like the promotion strategy, but that's a one-off, easy-to-change thing. They are not selling email addresses that they got directly via scottscheapflights.com - which is what the GP was insinuating (a bit dishonestly too). There's a big difference as what's actually happening can be a strategy that you dislike (and they might as well, depending on the outcome), but what the GP is insinuating is that SCF is actually SELLING the data, is completely incorrectly.

stavrus 9y ago

I'm not seeing how the two paragraphs are incongruous. The company is selling their brand, not the user info, when they run the promotions. If no-one signs up for the promotion, no user info gets shared. Ultimately it's the users who choose whether they want to sell themselves as a marketing lead in return for a slim chance at winning.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]