Re: for your information only (Sibrob application)

>(We have two pending applications and they were both sent
>letters..similar to this one. One has been pending for two days
>and one for one day. Nothing yet from either.)

Ellen,

I truly appreciate the effort you are making to prevent spammers from 
infiltrating our sibrob ranks, but I feel compelled to tell you how I 
would react to your introductory letter if I were a potential new, 
legitimate subscriber.  Even after several years online, I am still 
rather protective of my private information, including my full name 
(though you and a number of others are aware of my identity at this 
point).  In this day and age of rampant identity theft and all sort of 
internet-based crimes, I believe a lot of perfectly nice folks are 
hesitant to divulge personal information they feel is unnecessary and 
intrusive.  If those folks receive your letter, they may be put off and 
decide not to pursue membership in the sibrob.

I doubt if any spammer would take the time to reply to even the most 
minimal request for additional info.  All they're interested in is 
getting their nasty little messages out to the masses as quickly and 
anonymously as possible.  Get in, get out, get gone.  I believe that if 
you pare down your intro letter to request only name and ISP info AND you 
include a brief explanation of why you are requesting that info (to weed 
out spammers) and what you intend to do with it (like NEVER selling it or 
sharing it with any other source), it will feel less intrusive to those 
potential sibrobers we really want to join our list.

Bottom line is, we want to welcome legitimate new members, not scare them 
off, and we want to make life bothersome enough for the spammers to move 
on without darkening our doorstep with their smut.

JMHO,

Laurie


-----------------
laurief@paulbunyan.net
http://www.geocities.com/lfandjg/
http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/shadowood/irisintro.html
USDA zone 3b, AHS zone 4 - northern MN
acidic clay soil



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