Comments on: Hey MyPunchBowl, I’m not Your Customer

By: Mom

Mom — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:44:02 +0000

This discussion interested me because I’ve noticed that my in box has some letters I don’t remember asking for.
I also have another problem of the opposite sort, my aol spam filter keeps putting e-mail from my sister in the spam folder. We have chosen the custom address list as the option for determining spam. A few weeks ago, I figured out how to find the custom list, found my sister’s address there and removed it from the list. I’m still finding her e-mails in the spam folder. Why is this happening?

By: Ponzi’s Schemes » Blog Archive » My Punch bowl

Ponzi’s Schemes » Blog Archive » My Punch bowl — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:59:27 +0000

[...] 2.) Robert and Chris wrote about it, then - Jake, Brandon and Maryam wrote about it too. [...]

By: Anne Mitchell

Anne Mitchell — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:32:31 +0000

There is always a tension between trying to grow your business via email and adhering to best practices. The temptation to use those email addresses is strong, and it takes some serious intestinal fortitude to not use those addresses.
Arguably, there is a “business relationship” created in responding to an invitation that comes through a service, such that it would make it “legitimate” under CAN-SPAM, but that doesn’t make it “not spam”. Unfortunately, the marketing departments in companies often prevail over cooler, more rational heads when it comes to these decisions. And if the company is funded, and has to produce a “return on investment”, all bets are off.

FWIW, as one of the top email accreditors in the industry, *we* would advise a company *never* to do this, but if they wanted to put a “may we send you cool information” link at the bottom of the invitation, that would be ok.

Anne

By: XYHD.TV » Blog Archive » Are You Causing Your Friends and Colleagues to Get Spam?

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:00:54 +0000

[...] I didn’t join Reunion.com, nor did I join Beliefnet, or Herbalife, or Whirl. But I get e-mail from them that I can’t seem to stop getting. Why? Because like Jake and MyPunchbowl, someone I know decided I needed to know about these services. Combine this with the Forwards that I get with 1000’s of e-mails still in the headers it is no wonder I get so much spam. Do your friends a favor and if you you find a cool site send them a message the old fashioned way, not through the site’s automated service. [...]

By: John Pope

John Pope — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:50:11 +0000

We looked at best practices and concluded that sending unsolicited e-mails to invitees/guests was absolute taboo. I just reviewed our privacy messaging and encourage punchbowl to plagerize at will (should they choose to adopt a similar policy):

“Use of Trip Invitee Email Addresses:
If you wish to invite people to participate in a group trip, you may do so by using TripHub’s invitation and RSVP tracking tools. TripHub will only use invitee email addresses to send trip-specific invitations, updates, notices, reminders and messages generated by members of the group trip until such a time as the invitee registers with TripHub. Once an individual registers with TripHub, that individual is considered a TripHub member and may receive promotional communications, newsletters and service announcements from TripHub according to the terms and conditions of this privacy policy. ”

For the record, TripHub is very conservative about the frequency of customer communications. Even though our policy allows “promotional communications and newsletters” in practice, if we don’t have something we believe to be valuable to the majority of our registerd customers, we simply don’t send communications. (This frustrates me as a marketer with lots to say but, hey, customer trust is paramount.) Are we prefect? Probably not. But we believe we’ve taken the right position on this issue. And we’re always open to feedback.

By: Not a great way to win over new customers, or keep the trust of those you have | seattleduck

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 15:21:46 +0000

[...] Jake Ludington is annoyed at MyPunchBowl: So donâ€™t send me email without my permission. Chris and Ponzi invited me to a party using your service, which means they added my email address to your service. As their friend, Iâ€™m cool with that. I like getting email from Chris and Ponzi. I donâ€™t want mail from you. I donâ€™t remember checking a box saying you could send me mail. I donâ€™t care that Techcrunch gave you a reasonably good review. I donâ€™t care that Scoble says youâ€™re Maryam approved. Iâ€™m guessing none of them would ever use your service if they knew youâ€™d hijack their contacts and start sending a craptacular monthly newsletter WITHOUT PERMISSION. All the AJAXâ€™y goodness in the world wonâ€™t get me to recommend your service to anyone. I clicked the unsubscribe link, hopefully MyPunchBowl is gone from my life forever. [...]

By: Matt Douglas

Matt Douglas — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:13:18 +0000

Jake,

I sent you an email about this to apologize. We understand your point of view and it won’t happen again.

- Matt
MyPunchbowl.com

By: Brandon Paddock's Blog - Desktop Search and more

Brandon Paddock's Blog - Desktop Search and more — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Jake beat me to it. But I knew as soon as I got a â€œMarch Newsletterâ€ from MyPunchBowl.com that theyâ€™d gotten my e-mail address back when Chris and Ponzi invited me to a party via the service. Anyway, go read Jake

By: Maryamie

Maryamie — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Jake Ludington has a problem with Punchbowl

By: Jake Ludington - Mediablab: Published items (items 1 to 50)

Jake Ludington - Mediablab: Published items (items 1 to 50) — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Hey MyPunchBowl, Iâ€™m not Your Customer