Re: [ot - sort of] spammer bites the dust (goodbye gtcdrom.com)

[Raju Mathur <raju@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree with Fred to some extent.

While GT is definitely guilty of spam, they are also providing a very
helpful service to the community with their cheap (and not-so-cheap)
CD's.

Can we work out some way by which GT is allowed to inform the
community when new offers are available while not spamming?  I was
thinking in terms of Taranath sending his catalogue at regular
intervals to the Linux-India webmaster, who could then put it up on
the site and send the URL to the list.  That would solve all problems,
except that the webmaster would have more work to do (but if s/he were
scared of work, s/he shouldn't have taken up the webmaster job in the
first place :)

Regards,

-- Raju

>>>>> "Fred" == Frederick Noronha <fred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

    Fred> I agree wholeheartedly with the view below. As one of the
    Fred> founder-members of ILUG-Goa, I would like to thank GTCDrom
    Fred> publicly for all the help they have given us at various
    Fred> stages of our existance over the past year and half.  To my
    Fred> mind, one has to be careful before copying Amercian concepts
    Fred> of what constitutes 'spam'. Those definitions come from a
    Fred> culture where privacy of an individual is a supreme
    Fred> value. In our context, where we need to tune into new ideas,
    Fred> perhaps we need to look at things differently.  Some of the
    Fred> "unsolicited mail" that ends up in my mailbox is actually
    Fred> quite useful to me. Just because it happens to be 'spam'
    Fred> based on some American definition, I'm not willing to look
    Fred> at it in the same manner.  Once again, I thank Taranath for
    Fred> all the help received from his organisation... as a small
    Fred> tribute, I plan to write a feature to the unusual work GT
    Fred> Enterprises has been attempting. --Frederick Noronha,
    Fred> Freelance Journalist, Goa.

    Fred> On Wed, 29 Nov 2000, kbk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
    >> Hello, Ofcourse everybody hates Spam! and there are several
    >> ways to block it.  What happened to gtcdrom.com is too harsh
    >> from linux community to a linux seller(Atleast you should feel
    >> proud In B'lore,India we can get desired Linux,when you think
    >> of Pakistan,B'desh,Srilanka,Ukraine..).And it is hard selling
    >> Linux and pushing linux in Indian market(since less than 2.0
    >> kernel, they took risk , and they are doing and I think they
    >> will continue) as it is not so userfriendly, and even for them
    >> they took a long time to switch to LInux from Windows, AFAIK
    >> its only about 3 months back.Eventhough LIG boasts you can get
    >> support for all and always.It is still catching,people who
    >> really can answer are not answering I think, you cant help.And
    >> you all know to what expertise institutes teach and Internet
    >> can do.  They had supported Linux-India a lot by giving a lot
    >> of free CD's by mail,in Bang Linux & IT.COM and sponsored LIG
    >> meetings too.The mailing list of them is also a request of so
    >> many people who want to know recent things from Linux and also
    >> they written to send them a mail who want to unsubscribe.Since
    >> they are not technically sound to implement Majordomo or other
    >> mailing list managers , they adopted one what they knew.
    >> Nobody supported or came forward to implement one like that, I
    >> think even after they wont find people.Dont think I am talking
    >> on behalf of GTCDROM, I am only a person talking who is
    >> benefitted by those free CD's and promo texts and knew after
    >> working how better Linux/OpenBSD/FreeBSD is.  Atleast let them
    >> to mail the latest Linux stuff in to LIG mailing list and help
    >> them in rebuilding and serving Linux users.  Long live the
    >> Linux spirit.
    >> 
    >> Linux Lover.
    >> 
    >> 
    >> Chequemail.com - a free web based e-mail service that also
    >> pays!!!  http://www.chequemail.com