6 ms·

> which, by the way, is not illegal As business, sending automated messages to individuals without prior authorization is spam. Pre-checked tick boxes are not

> which, by the way, is not illegal As business, sending automated messages to individuals without prior authorization is spam. Pre-checked tick boxes are not consent to receive such messages, you need explicit opt-in. If you are informed that these messages are unwanted, and told to stop, and yet you continue, it becomes explicitly and knowingly illegal. > You effectively don't matter As long as I cost them enough to make sure they'll never even think of contacting me again, I'm happy.

satvikpendem 4y ago
Correct, if you're following CANSPAM in the US you must abide by its rules in order to remain legal, however explicit opt-in is not required. What is required is: - No deceptive information - Valid physical address - Must have an easy way to unsubscribe, most often an unsubscribe link but asking the recipient to reply to stop being sent emails is also sufficient - Promptly honor unsubscribe requests within ten days Other countries have different laws though. https://www.gmass.co/blog/is-cold-emailing-illegal/ https://www.gmass.co/blog/is-cold-emailing-illegal/ > As long as I cost them enough to make sure they'll never even think of contacting me again, I'm happy. Honestly if they're following the above rules, you won't cost them anything. And if they're not, and therefore doing it illegally, well, looks like your lawyers will have their work cut out for them.
- kuschku 4y ago
  I'm in Germany, so far stricter rules apply. And often senders aren't even complying with the CANSPAM rules. Far too often have I received an email with sad gifs attached telling me they don't want to stop emailing me. Recruiters, Sales, shitty spam farms, it's all the same. My hometown already banned any kind of outdoor ads with lights and heavily regulated ad size, personally I'd appreciate if we banned advertising altogether as society.
  - satvikpendem 4y ago
    That's unfortunate in Germany, I've had people cold email me with good information, I've even gotten a few jobs from that. Similarly, I've had good clients come from cold email as well. I'm not sure how advertising as a whole could be banned, there are many types, and it could be argued that even word of mouth (or merely even showing a brand image like logos) is a sort of advertising. Also, it would be very difficult for new entrants in an industry to start up, ironically cementing existing players in the market; Coca-Cola doesn't need more advertising since everyone knows about Coke, while a new soda brand would find it extremely hard to grow without any advertising whatsoever.
    - kuschku 4y ago
      How would it cement existing players? Many people already make purchasing decisions by looking at comprehensive tests from non-profit foundations (https://www.test.de/ https://www.test.de/) or one of the public broadcasters' (https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/markt/index.html https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/markt/index.html, https://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/markt/index.html https://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/markt/index.html), and then do price comparisons with one of the many popular price comparison websites (https://www.idealo.de/ https://www.idealo.de/, https://geizhals.de/ https://geizhals.de/, https://www.hardwareschotte.de/ https://www.hardwareschotte.de/, https://www.preispiraten.de/ https://www.preispiraten.de/). If your product is good, it'll do well in the tests and the price comparison, and be bought. You only need advertising if your product is actually bad and you instead want to convince people to pay for it because you want it associated with a certain image of your customers. But in that case, you're not selling a product, you're selling a status symbol, basically jewellery (e.g., Apple, the sneaker market, etc) And the market of status symbols is harmful to society anyway, so if it gets destroyed as collateral damage of a potential ad ban, that'd be awesome.
      - satvikpendem 4y ago
        When you say "many people," it sounds more like this your workflow for purchasing decisions, not many people's. The way you outlined is so rare that I doubt many people actually do what you describe, unless you want to redefine the word "many." There is a reason advertising exists and works, and you are not realizing that you are a rare, rare exception to that. It is akin to someone using only Gentoo and saying how many people also use it. Yes, some people might use it too, but it is so far outside the range of normality in the population that it does not matter, even if the Gentoo user thinks their bubble is many other people's too.

satvikpendem 4y ago

Correct, if you're following CANSPAM in the US you must abide by its rules in order to remain legal, however explicit opt-in is not required. What is required is: - No deceptive information - Valid physical address - Must have an easy way to unsubscribe, most often an unsubscribe link but asking the recipient to reply to stop being sent emails is also sufficient - Promptly honor unsubscribe requests within ten days Other countries have different laws though. https://www.gmass.co/blog/is-cold-emailing-illegal/ https://www.gmass.co/blog/is-cold-emailing-illegal/ > As long as I cost them enough to make sure they'll never even think of contacting me again, I'm happy. Honestly if they're following the above rules, you won't cost them anything. And if they're not, and therefore doing it illegally, well, looks like your lawyers will have their work cut out for them.

kuschku 4y ago
I'm in Germany, so far stricter rules apply. And often senders aren't even complying with the CANSPAM rules. Far too often have I received an email with sad gifs attached telling me they don't want to stop emailing me. Recruiters, Sales, shitty spam farms, it's all the same. My hometown already banned any kind of outdoor ads with lights and heavily regulated ad size, personally I'd appreciate if we banned advertising altogether as society.
- satvikpendem 4y ago
  That's unfortunate in Germany, I've had people cold email me with good information, I've even gotten a few jobs from that. Similarly, I've had good clients come from cold email as well. I'm not sure how advertising as a whole could be banned, there are many types, and it could be argued that even word of mouth (or merely even showing a brand image like logos) is a sort of advertising. Also, it would be very difficult for new entrants in an industry to start up, ironically cementing existing players in the market; Coca-Cola doesn't need more advertising since everyone knows about Coke, while a new soda brand would find it extremely hard to grow without any advertising whatsoever.
  - kuschku 4y ago
    How would it cement existing players? Many people already make purchasing decisions by looking at comprehensive tests from non-profit foundations (https://www.test.de/ https://www.test.de/) or one of the public broadcasters' (https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/markt/index.html https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/markt/index.html, https://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/markt/index.html https://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/markt/index.html), and then do price comparisons with one of the many popular price comparison websites (https://www.idealo.de/ https://www.idealo.de/, https://geizhals.de/ https://geizhals.de/, https://www.hardwareschotte.de/ https://www.hardwareschotte.de/, https://www.preispiraten.de/ https://www.preispiraten.de/). If your product is good, it'll do well in the tests and the price comparison, and be bought. You only need advertising if your product is actually bad and you instead want to convince people to pay for it because you want it associated with a certain image of your customers. But in that case, you're not selling a product, you're selling a status symbol, basically jewellery (e.g., Apple, the sneaker market, etc) And the market of status symbols is harmful to society anyway, so if it gets destroyed as collateral damage of a potential ad ban, that'd be awesome.
    - satvikpendem 4y ago
      When you say "many people," it sounds more like this your workflow for purchasing decisions, not many people's. The way you outlined is so rare that I doubt many people actually do what you describe, unless you want to redefine the word "many." There is a reason advertising exists and works, and you are not realizing that you are a rare, rare exception to that. It is akin to someone using only Gentoo and saying how many people also use it. Yes, some people might use it too, but it is so far outside the range of normality in the population that it does not matter, even if the Gentoo user thinks their bubble is many other people's too.