Re: Cheap Legal Books !

Palindrâ?»me <me9@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
fjmd1a@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
M.I.5¾ wrote:

Advertisements are spam.

Is that really true?

I ask, because I *might* at some point want to advertise a product or
service on uk.legal. I can't see why that would be contrary to
netiquette. I am a regular poster (and it would be relevant to the
newsgroup).

Obviously I would be quite clear that I was advertising - the OP here
was being less than honest in trying to imply that he wasn't selling
anything. What's more his website is surpising in its pointlessness
(who would sign up)?

So, I am absolutely behind a lot of the invective against the OP, but
spam used to be characterised by massive cross-posting and irrelevance
(as I recall). Adverts were common when I started to use USENET nearly
20 years ago and not always unwelcome. Have things changed?

It depends entirely on the group and the nature of the advertisement.

Funnily enough it was a couple of lawyers, Cantor & Siegel, who really
became the first and most notorious for their spam (at least for the
people around on Usenet at the time).

I actually picked up a copy of their book, _How to Make a Fortune
on the Internet_ (although obviously they didn't since they found it
worthwhile to write such a book) for next to nothing in a remainder
bookshop - purely for the amusement value of owning it.

God, I didn't even know that there was a usenet 20 years ago.. or 5 come
to that..

As a newbie, I get the impression that an ad in the signature lines of a
post that otherwise is on topic is not objected to by anyone. It is only
when your whole post is an ad or, worse, when you have started a thread
specifically as an ad, that umbrage is taken.

There can be no objection to signature lines (as long as they do not
bloat beyond 4 or 5 lines); some groups are specifically for adverts
(the inclusion of 'forsale' or 'offered' in the name is often a good
indication); answers to genuine questions, such as 'where can I buy X',
'what is a good Y'; adverts for free and useful resources; k.t.l.

In this particular case, I suspect there would have been fewer compaints
in the OP had labelled his post with 'ADVERT' in the title.

Me, I don't mind an ad sent to a particular single relevant group -
although I can see why it might upset others. To me it only becomes spam
when it is sent to dozens of groups of questionable relevance.

The ones that really get up my nose are the "I found this website and it
is really good" - sent by the site or someone working for it..I much
appreciate those present with the understanding and the willingness to
nail these individuals..

Agreed.

Axel


.

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