Please don’t add me to your list, forums, webapp or other.

[MatthewKeath]

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I have had two forums members in the last week add me to their list in one case, and in another case to a strange social site within their main site.

Both have zero value to me.

Please don’t do this. It does not want me do business with you.

I don’t mind receiving a personal email inviting me to something.

Thanks!

[MyGreatIdea]

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I’ve received two newsletters in the past week with the reminder as to why I’m receiving them as “or we met at a networking function”.

Seriously, don’t people realise that, as well as being illegal, this does more harm to their business and reputation than good?!?

Wendy
PS I’m just going to remove you from this month’s newsletter now Matthew lol

[bb1]

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Thats why I dont have my email or website on the forums anymore, I was sick of the spam which comes from them.

[MatthewKeath]

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bb1, post: 210747 wrote:

Thats why I dont have my email or website on the forums anymore, I was sick of the spam which comes from them.I find having my contact details far outweighs the spam, but every now and them someone slips one in.

It grinds my gears…

[Peter – FS Administrator]

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Hey guys,

Thanks for mentioning this. From time to time we do get reports of this, where people access contact details from forums like this, or any contact details posted anywhere online, and then contact people with offers. Sometimes they might also try and claim some affiliation with the site.

It can be well-intentioned, but often just spam, but either way it is a bad idea.

If you do get this from registered Flying Solo members, please report it to us via PM (or forward the emails) as we can contact them directly and block membership where needed.

As Matt mentioned, it can be an idea to not post any contact details and just use the messaging system, but online it’s always a balance of being readily available to genuine prospects v managing the promoters.

Thanks again and any questions let us know.

Cheers
Peter

[bb1]

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Hey Peter,

It happens on all forums, just one of those things you can’t avoid, but at the same time these people pickup our email address’s from our websites as well, so in reallity if they are going to do it, they will track us down.

[Tom ISW]

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I’ve noticed this too. What I do (if they’re based in Australia) is report them to ACMA straight away. ACMA fires off a warning email, telling them what they’re doing is wrong. I hope it makes them think twice about adding others to their lists without permission.

http://www.acma.gov.au/Citizen/Stay-protected/My-online-world/Spam/reporting-spam-i-acma

[EthiSEC]

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You need to be careful about how you publish your email address. If it is conspicuous it may be legal to send you an unsolicited email, some guidance is available here:

http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/spam-inferred-consent-and-conspicuous-publications

Inferred consent and conspicuous publications
Under the Spam Act, you can only infer consent through conspicuous publication if:

• the electronic address is published ‘conspicuously’—that is, it is accessible to the public, or a section of the public (for example, it appears on a website or in a telephone directory or brochure)

• the address is not accompanied by a statement that commercial messages are not wanted

• the subject matter of your message is directly related to the principal role or function of the recipient (electronic account-holder).

If you haven’t seen ti before it is a good idea to read this “Understanding Consent” document:

http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Unsolicited%20Communications%20Compliance/Fact%20sheet/pdf/Spam%20Act%20understanding%20consent.PDF

HTH,

Jason

[Author]

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