Re: Hunger site

["David L. Bridges" <dbridge9@IDT.NET>]

Thanks to Doug for a clear and thoughful presentation.  In addition to all
the considerations he correctly elaborates, also note that the URL I
provided establishes the legitimacy of the Hunger site.

-- David Bridges

> -----Original Message-----
> From: phys-l@lists.nau.edu: Forum for Physics Educators
> [mailto:PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu]On Behalf Of Doug Craigen
> Sent: Monday, August 28, 2000 6:02 PM
> To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
> Subject: Re: Hunger site
>
>
> Peter Schoch wrote:
> > I take it you object to the "spam" notion?
> >
> > Since the site is legitimate, and the idea is a good one, I saw no harm
> > in passing along the site URL.  Without actively surfing to find it, the
> > site is not otherwise easily found.
>
> Internet Marketing 101:
>   Unsolicited email (aka "spam") is the fastest known way to undermine
>   the credibility of any product/service/company/organization.  As such
> it
>   is exclusively the domain of fast-buck operators.
>
> The Hunger Site intends to be in for the long haul, and for this reason
> cannot afford to promote themselves in this fashion or encourage others
> to promote them in this fashion.  They must build awareness through
> means that may seem slow, but which are seen as legitimate.  What David
> Schoch provided below was a link to a page where you can see that the
> Hunger Site does in fact discourage well-meaning people from promoting
> them by means such as sending a posting to a physics discussion group.
>
> > > Before you react to the message below, you should check out
> the following.
> > >   http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/scares/hunger.html
>
> One might wonder what is so bad about spam and why so many in PHYS-L are
> so quick to pounce on those who tell us about bonafidely good and
> interesting things.  There are many reasons, but among them is the fact
> that reading a group like this is hard enough at times without risking
> it becoming completely overrun with unrelated issues such as amusing
> road signs in foreign countries (many of us here don't have a "President
> Clinton").  These things have a way of ballooning, and remember that
> most PHYS-Lers are lurkers so we have the potential of much higher
> traffic levels than you presently see.  Lets hope that we draw the
> lurkers out because they want to talk about Physics, not because they
> come to see this as a place to post their favorite jokes, political
> announcements, charitable pleas, etc.  These all have their place, but a
> Physics listserv isn't it.
>
> One thing to ponder - why is the page David refers us to in a
> "virusinfo" directory?  Speaking for myself, I've had many letters about
> The Hunger Site forwarded to me and they all encourage me to further the
> process by forwarding it on to my own email address book.  There are
> many ways to generate bandwidth havoc by email: writing a virus such as
> Melissa, writing a hoax such as any of the Bill Gates "win a prize by
> forwarding this" variants, or encouraging others to pass on something
> which is real.  While the last of these is the most benign in its intent
> it is still in the same general class of "send this to everybody in your
> address book" - it is operating like an email virus.
>
> \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\
>
> Doug Craigen
>           http://www.dctech.com/physics/about_dc.html