Re: legitimate unsolicited commercial e-mail vs spam

From: Matt Magri <matt_at_netmeg.net>
Date: Mon 8 Nov 1999 18:07:07 -0500

JIM NOVO WROTE:
> Let's say the State of Florida is thinking of creating an
> agency to help support or define various Internet issues.
> They have a list of proposed issues and ideas, and are
> looking for comments and reactions from the Internet
> community *in Florida* on the possible effects of these
> issues.

I'm going to summarize the points to save space:

[...they have a small budget
[...there's no newsletter/website used by businesses in FL
[...there's no interest by the press
[...there's an online yellow pages that they could use to
    harvest email addresses so they could send UBE to
    those addresses
[...they realize doing that would be a PR disaster
[...they usually take out ads in "barely read legal notice
     papers"

> What should they do?

Assuming they can't get any more funding from any source or
find more creative ways to generate media interest, all they
can do is put in the time to make contacts, collect input,
and get the word out through the normal govt<->business
channels (chambers of commerce, business organizations,
local governments, economic development councils, the
library network, etc.), though local ISPs, etc. and, in the
process, build a network.

While making these contacts, giving talks, etc. they should
publicize a site with resources that are useful to
businesses in the state. That should include a mailing list
that people could join for announcements and another for
discussions. They should have a way for other sites to link
to theirs... not just an icon they can use, but a way of
accessing the useful info on the site. For instance, a
search window that would interface with the search engine's
on the state's websites. By letting other sites get useful
content out of putting up the link, the state will get on a
lot more Frolida-oriented sites on board a lot faster. In a
similar vein, if the state actually generates enough
business news on a daily or weekly basis, they could make
portal-ish headline links available (ala iSyndicate, et.al.)
that folks could include on their sites.

In short, their efforts should be geared towards not only
addressing their current needs, but towards building an
environment that would alleviate the problem in the future,
as well. The one thing that's obvious from the list of
problems you presented is that no foundation has been laid
to allow the state (or anyone, for that matter) to get the
message out to state Internet businesses. -That- is the
problem that has to be addressed by whatever approach the
state chooses to take.

Matt
--
Matt Magri
Netmeg Internet




Received on Mon Nov 08 1999 - 17:07:07 CST