Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Jonathan,

I totally agree with you about the FFA's except for one point.

You will find that somewhere in the "Terms of Service" of ANY site, be it FFA or anything else, a clause which will read to the effect of "By joining xyz site you agree to receive regular emails from xyz site."

The determination of what "Regular" is, is down to the site owner.
With FFA's the owners often abuse this and send, in some cases, as often as hourly.

With FFA's they tell you Clearly about the initial email but slip it away usually in very small print about the other emails you are agreeing to accept.

The biggest error everyone does or has made is, they do not read the "Terms of Service" on web sites. We are all guilty of doing this at some stage of our Internet experience me included.

By joining any site you are accepting their "Terms of Service".
If one does not bother to read those terms that is their problem.

Does one sign a contract with a real life supplier without reading the Contract?
Does one sign an agreement with a bank without reading the contract?

Yes I know that there are those that do but they are in the minority. (At least I hope so)

On the Internet when you join a site you are effectively signing a contract and it is the Minority that actually bother to read the contract they are signing.

I am not into the fancy Latin but in English it says "BUYER BEWARE"
On the Internet if you join a sight, even a free to join site, you are the "BUYER"

Where you can get these owners for spamming is if there is no opt out link or instructions on how to opt out, in their emails they are sending you

Bj
Bill Brown aka Bjantiques

Aug 5th 2007 07:48   

Beth Schmillen   
Well, how's everyone doing?

I just posted a new thread to THE APSense Group here and was notified by Apsense Express that there was a reply! and I came here to read it and it's been removed!

the whole thing.

it was about having live signatures even in comments.... a suggestion????

and that I had been rated as ... well here's the version I wrote in a different Group...

Here's an interesting update on how this spam rating thing works! On one of my onw blogs I commented to a friend who had already commented. I have now found out that someone rated my comment as spam!

BethsVentures - 07/27/07 08:21 Top It
| Delete | Report Unrelated Comment (1)

I was given an unrelated comment strike for posting a comment in my own blog!

Beth

Aug 5th 2007 09:09   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Beth

You first posted questions with no links in there.
When I posted a reply
You had edited the original post and added urls.

There is no advertising in the APSense Group.
Therefore it was deleted.

Bj
Bill Brown aka Bjantiques

Aug 5th 2007 09:31   

Beth Schmillen   
Hi Bj

That's what it was? I thought we could have a signature here?

ok... my mistake... I would have gladly edited it...

thanks just the same
Beth

Beth of BethsVentures
Aug 5th 2007 09:46   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Beth

Unfortunatly no we are not in this group.

That is why I spent hours going through every thread I had posted in, in this group and removed my urls.

Some I just deleted, and others that had helpfull replies I removed and reposted without the url.

oh and before I forget again here are the answers to your questions.


re quote"
So...why would anyone think my comment on my blog is Unrelated Comment?
"unquote

Probably for the same reason someone decided a help post of mine that was reposted minus url to be compliant with the no advertising rules in this group was flagged as spam.

Pure childishness on the part of the person that clicked on it.

The reason you are back at 100% is because of the 10% you recover at the end of the week if you are below 100%

There is also another thread that answers your question about live links in which management stated that live links would not be allowed in comments to prevent spamming. I cannot pin it down right now though.

This unfortunately does not discourage some from doing so.

Bj
Bill Brown aka Bjantiques

Aug 5th 2007 10:03   

jimmy48   
My 2 cents on this spam cop stuff. the reason I'm here is to contact people, either they want me to or don't, it only takes one reply and I'll never bother them again.. But this report spam is too open to abuse I have a group for Florida and a free traffic group some one has applied to be an admin on both. Well this person doesn't have any relation to either group and has never tried to contact me. So when I deny him on these groups he may very likely start reporting my posts as spam or some one promoting the same programs as I can cause me all sorts of problems
This spam stuff is a no-go
Aug 6th 2007 21:09   

Eric Smith   Online Professional
I guess that would only lead to a "You reported me - I'll report you" scenario. Then nobody wins. So whats the sense in that.

In this environment, i wouldn't report anyone for spam unless they were posting copy / paste advertisements in every group regardless of the topic at hand.... we all know the type.

Fair enough, in some instances it may be newbies who don't know better - trust me i know, i was one of those newbies once.... My eyes opened up when my ISP rang me and said my account was suspended for 7 days as i had been reported for SPAM - that was 8 years ago.

Since then I have studied all the legitimate forms of promotion available.

I needed that set back of being reported. I looked at it as a learning curve and it was probably one of the best things to happen to my online business career.

Aug 6th 2007 22:02   

Jenny Stewart   
Hi Val,

Well several weeks on, it is now clear that the spam button is being abused - by accident or by design I dont know. However,. I suspect for every newbie who makes an honest mistake there are a few people who are pursuing personal second agendas which do not form part of the general good of the Community. and are not using it to genuinly eliminate Spam.

Personally I couldnt report anyone for Spam unless the situation was really out of hand - one day I may have to look these people "in the eye" -lol

It looks as if the same practise is now being applied to the Business Centres I've seen what I can only calculate as "1" votes given to some very good Centres - childish, sad but very probable.

But regrettably - these people are on every community to some extent and it would be a dream to think that ApSEnse is going to be totally imune to this phenomena. What we do know though is that they are open to change at ApSense and are constantly working to removed this kind of problem.

What a waste of good networking time!
Aug 7th 2007 09:04   

Rusty Rose   
In a way, APSense reminds me of the Internet as a whole. APSense is a wonderful concept and community as was the Internet at one time. Spam is really spoiling the Internet for me. To get a decent filter, you have to pay for it. So much for "free email." But I can't take the spammers anymore, especially those who are sending graphic pornography to everyone whether they want it or not. I'm finding that the lack of ettiquette and the rudeness of people is becoming more and more prevailant. It would be impossible to hope that some of these people won't find a home in APSense. But unlike the Internet as a whole, it is somewhat limited here. Thank you, APSense. I'm so glad you came along and I found you. *Grin.

But I still say, get rid of that stupid spam button.
Aug 7th 2007 09:58   

Rusty Rose   
Here is a thought on spam. The next time you want to buy something, either information or to join a program, make sure it isn't from a spammer. Spammers spam because it evidently works for them. If it stopped working for them would they spam? It wouldn't stop the spam but it might cut down on it if you were careful not to buy from a spammer.

The pornography is the kicker, though. There used to be a government address where you could forward spam but it doesn't work anymore. Does anyone have a new address where you can forward it?


Aug 7th 2007 10:12   

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant
We're not going to solve the email spam problem. We can discuss and debate the hows and whys, but it will be to no avail. eMail as a marketing tool is dying a slow and painful death. Blame the spammers, the ISPs, the people who reply to spammers... it's dying.

We can control spam in our online communities like APSense. I do not believe a spam button with no controls or accountability is the answer. If there is going to be a spam button, there needs to be accountability which could include: tracking the reporters IP address, requiring an explanation of the report, and consequences for abuse of the spam report feature.

JMHO ~ Karen ~
Aug 7th 2007 13:04