Dear Connection: I Got mail? Thank you!
I just got done reading this article about what a cardinal sin it is to mass mail certain people on Gather. Now while I realize some of us may have time so valuable that we cannot possibly be bothered to open a mail message... here's what I have to say on the matter.
Dear connection - PLEASE mail me. Mass mail me. Continue to mail me every single thing you want to mail me. Tell me about your day, your dog, your dinner, your latest posting or picture - or about a group you want me to join.
I may not have time to respond to every message individually. I may not even open one that looks like it has no interest to me, if I'm particularly busy - but there are SO MANY wonderful things I have learned about through mail that I would have never known about otherwise.
Things I have recieved in mass mail:
- Notifications of friends and family members joining Gather. I'm always pleased to make a new connection- I always check these out, and usually make a new friend in the proccess.
- Notifications of new groups forming - always check them out, join quite a lot of them.
- Notifications of new articles and images - check them out whenever I have time. More often than not, I leave a rating - leave a comment when I've got time and have something to say.
- Notification of a Gather issue. Sometimes I read 'em, sometimes I don't. That usually depends on whether they're legit complaints, or just rants.
Does mass mail hurt me, or waste my valuable time? Hell no. It only takes me a few minutes to go through my inbox each day. And not all my mail is mass mail - some of it is questions, comments, complaints, or feedback on articles I've written. I really appreciate that, too.
Everyone wants to be heard. Gather has provided a tool for us to communicate when we have something we feel we need to bring attention to. As long as this isn't overused (ie: one person sending fifteen messages a day- that's a bit much!) , please, keep the mail coming! I want to hear about what you, my connections, are up to. I want to make new friends. I want to read, rate, and comment on your work. All 1,696 of you are more than welcome. I will NEVER block someone for contacting me in this way.
Isn't that what being in a community is all about?
If you don't like mass mail, delete it without reading. It only takes a few seconds out of your day. Me, I'll read and enjoy.
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Comments: 71
Good point: read or delete. It's a choice. Not everything in the mailbox is junk.
But, I guess what I don't understand most of all is why anyone else on Gather should make the decision on how I personally use my mailbox? When are we ever going to learn on this web site to live and let live and that there are diverse opinions and preferences and they are ALL acceptable?
What I mainly object to is someone writing an article in a completely condescending tone about how their time is too valuable to be wasted by mass mail, and how they're going to block/remove every person who sends them a mass mail.
That's just completely unfriendly.
If you don't like mass mail, you don't have to read it. You can delete it from your inbox. You can ignore it. You can send a note to the sender asking to be disincluded from future mailings. Or yes, you can block the sender from sending.
I just found the tone, the unfriendliness, and the action to be very hostile and wanted to respond to it with my own opinions on the matter.
--L
I am quite capable of finding my connection's articles... they're all there on handy dandy listing for me...that's kind of why I HAVE connections!
I find it particularly irksome when I am innundated with come comment emails from people who cannot be bothered to comment on any of my articles.
I don't think quietly disconnecting from those people is being a baby... though whining and complaining in an email to them - or worse yet - in an article - would definitely qualify.
I consider this a solicited mail, as it is only sent to people who have voluntarily connected to me in the first place, and therefore, the solicitation can be removed either by removing me as a connection, or by blocking me as a sender.
Yeah, when someone abuses the mass mailing- a block is a reasonable response to me, too.
Also, I fully admit that the title came about because I found a cute baby in a mailbox picture to use, hehe. I was looking for a mailbox picture to include when that came up, and I couldn't resist.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
I totally agree that people need to not be bossy or condescending in their articles. And, I agree that if they don't like getting mass emails, they should just take care of it. But, that's me and that's the way I would do it. Unfortunately, when you have an open forum, you will get people who are rude, condescending, or just otherwise nasty. I'm sorry that the author of that article felt the need to be rude, but they are probably getting frustrated.
Austin, I get some mass emails that are just that, solicited emails. They have to do with a challenge for a group I belong to. I also get some that are for prayer requests. Those kinds I would never block. But, I do block the ones that are for money-making schemes or for articles that are going to show up on "My Page" anyway.
What I would like is the ability to block all bulk email on the system regardless of who it is from.
I don't stress out over the bulk email thing, but it is a definite downside to Gather and if a tool was made available to stop it, I'd be first in line to sign up.
Until that happens, one thing that would be nice is if people would at least make the subject line clear so that I can delete the message without reading it if it obviously is of no interest.
I have had several bulk mailings where the subject was nothing more than "You should read this! Very important!", which, of course, it wasn't.
Randy - please link me! I want to read. =)
I tried mass mailing once or twice and lost a couple of connections, so i don't do it any more.
Getting it doesn't bother me so much.
Actually I think the blame is with Gather. It's becoming harder and harder to have your work read these days, and I suppose that sometimes the only outlet to have your material read is mass e-mail or spam. Quite frankly, I get more of it than I can follow up on.
However, I do NOT like mass emails. I already have settings on Gather that notify me via my personal email when someone connected to me posts an article or an image. I also am notified if someone emails me on Gather. And, I also get notifications from the groups I belong to.
So, for a connection who posts a new article, and sends it to every group s/he belongs to, and THEN emails me to let me that they would very much appreciate it if I would read the article, by then, I have received no less than TWO notifications, sometimes as many as 10.
As others have said, some Gatherers are of the mind that Gather was set up for the purpose of writing and communicating within a community.
However, it has become obvious to me that many people are posting simply for points, writing a single line or referring to some other location on Gathe, on the Web or just a couple of words.
For those of us who publish articles, with great anguish, thought and rewrites, tears and sometimes trepidation, it's pretty hard to get heard when your other contacts publish anything that occurs to them while painting their toenails, copies and pastes articles and says "thoughts?" and then emails the entire world and publishes to every group on Gather, relevant or not.
I would never block a connection or write a nasty note to the people who do this. I simply decide, after some time, whether this person is worth all of the shrill noise they make, and whether what they are producing as "work" is worth my time. And then I delete the connection.
People can do what they want, but I hope that comments like mine will make the blatant point whores think for an extra second before pressing that "send" or "publish" button.
/rant
Right now the internet is a dynamic medium, but it favors quantity over quality. Certainly we need a quantum improvement in the search function. Imagine planning a trip to Paris, France, typing Paris in the search box and getting 8 million hits on Paris Hilton. That may be an easy one to manage, but I think you get the idea.
I don't have a solution to indescriminate mass mailings, publishing of your daily trivia and thousands of airheads discussing Paris Hilton (not on Gather of course). I don't want to restrict the freedom that makes the internet such a preferrably active medium as oppposed to the passivity of television. Any one have a clue?
Remember, the ability to get irritated is one of the signs of life.
Incidentally, I've almost completely stopped Gathering because of posts that go to too many groups. Frankly, I see a correlation between those who use these two techniques -- essentially claiming that they are the center of the universe.
To the extent that this place is impossible to get any serious writing and reading done -- and I think that is largely the case, it's because of these two activities. If you want a serious writing and conversation venue with genuinely high standards, I suggest everything2.com. Oh, but you won't get any stupid points.
So---click on my name space and comment me...I'd rather not do mass e-mails.
I'm sorry that my mass mail (sent at a rate of one letter every week or two to announce my column) was so troublesome to you.
As for multiple groups... well, I don't know what to tell you there. Scroll down a little? I still don't understand why either of these things are an issue. The more groups you publish something to, the more chance you will have someone see your article, the way I see things. I don't see that as self-centered, just practical.
Zoe,
I'm usually very busy, but I Gather when I do my other online work during the day and evening (I work from home, so that does help).
I just multi-task.
--L
I feel exactly as you do. Some of what I receive is of interest to me, and that which isn't tends to be quite easy to ignore or delete. I have yet to block anyone from my inbox, and I feel that mail messages are just a part of the community experience here.
However, I do feel that some members could and should exercise a little more restraint in the amount of mail they send, and how often.
If one mass mailing every two weeks is the most terrible of your mailbox problems - then you must have very few things to worry about. Congratulations.
As to what I or my husband choose to write about...well, I'm pretty sure we can make up our own minds on that - thanks for your input, though.
If I ever need to read another riveting article like Condoms for Cocktails by Fred Bals I'll be sure to drop in.
--L
I didn't know that there were places where you had to pay by the minute for internet access. Ouch!
My opinion on the subject is documented in the article above. I know we all have a different opinion on these things. If you feel the need to block everyone who ever mass mails you, then that's your choice, if a bit harsh in my eyes.
I also see nothing wrong with publishing to any group that your article fits in. If you have a different opinion on that, feel free to hold it- but let's not be snide about it.
I have said it many times before but I guess it is still not being heard. Spam emails and pop up ads are two of the most effective ways to advertise, they make the most money for companies. But when you send out 1 million emails even if only 1% clicks that is still 10,000 people clicking. And that sure beats sending out 1000 emails to your past customers and getting a 98% response.
I think it is annoying but alas I do live in a free country so maybe I am just getting use to it. I suggest one of the following:
www.hotmail.com
www.yahoo.com
www.gmail.com
www.inbox.com
www.mail.aol.com
www.rock.com
www.mail.com
www.care2.com
Any of them will give you a free email address that you can use for just about any site you want and you don't even have to check it. I personally have spambarbi@hotmail.com that I use for gather.
Good idea. You can also set your Gather preferences to where it won't notify you by email every time you get a new Gather mail. Just go to Settings, then uncheck the boxes by these settings:
For Me
Notify me when:
someone comments on my content
I receive a private message
I receive a connection request
I receive an invitation to join a group
Also, I set up my email account where all the mail from Gather notifications collects into one folder. I'm sure a lot of mail services offer this feature.
If the people who send these mass e-mails and group invites had been following me on Gather, they would know that I usually write articles about cars, music, immigration, Chinese restaurants and recently a couple of Wal-Mart articles.
My point is that if you're going to mass e-mail, make sure you are mass e-mailing people who would possibly be interested in your subject material if that is possible at all.
I will say that I've replied to a few mass e-mailers and asked them to stop. So far, that has worked. I'd rather be honest with them up front than block them with no explanation.
Gather is a place to gather so why not let your friends in on your content or maybe someone that needs our support.
Blessings