[Asterisk-Users] Fw: Gift for Mark Spencer

[Joe Greco]

> 	What mailing list is this? Asterisk-Users.  

The request wasn't made on the mailing list.  It was made via direct spam.
If it were made on the mailing list and conformed to whatever posting
guidelines might exist, then it'd be fine.

> Why do we even HAVE 
> Asterisk?  Because Mark Spencer and the folks at Digium (and others) 
> have been busting their butts to provide such a quality piece of 
> software.  You wouldn't even have a mailing list to complain on if it 
> weren't for Mark.  Not only would I love to contribute to this, I think 
> the whole idea of a hot tub and it being a surprise is wonderful 
> (assuming Mark can keep his laptop out of the tub).  Furthermore, how 
> else are you supposed to contact the 8,000 or so people on this list 
> (without posting to it directly, and thus blowing the surprise)?  The 
> "Batlight" from Batman?

Principles are an interesting thing.

You can tell a lot about people by whether they actually live by them or
if they only pay them lip service.

Spam doesn't become okay just because you're doing ${THING}.  For any value
of ${THING}.  If you're sending bulk quantities of unsolicited mail, you
are spamming.  That's a fact.  Check your ISP TOS.  It doesn't say "You
can't spam unless you are doing it to send solicitations for money for a 
gift for Mark Spencer."

What happens next week when someone gets the bright idea to solicit a few
million people for a $1 donation for the "Buy Linus Torvalds a Hot Tub"
fund?  Is that somehow OK, then?  What about the "Buy Bill Gates a Skunk" 
fund?

Think about that question very carefully before you reply.

Because if you think that the spam being discussed is okay, and you say
you don't like spam, well, there's a little conflict there.

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.