Read this review by Orson Scott Card. The man has a knack for getting to the bottom of things. His movie reviews are excellent.
I have seen and reviewed Source Code, agree with all his comments on the fake science and disagree with his opinion that this is a good movie. However, it somehow is a movie everyone seems to enjoy watching. It’s afterwards when I thought about it that I decided it was dumb.
I have not seen Hanna and I want to go now.
His comments on spam are superb and we all should read them.
And his criticism of Time Warner Cable is so appropriate. I have actually criticized Time Warner myself here before, about other issues. Interestingly, I have moved since, and I am now back with Cox. After getting used to Time Warner, I don’t like the Cox interface. Whine, whine, whine.
I read every word of this post by Card. You should too.
Hey, since I now follow your lead, Mr. Haupt, I read through O.S.Card’s review and did like everything, especially the Hanna review. Now I will wait for YOUR review of Hanna, and I might just watch it then for myself.
But the long-winded spam comments did not seem “superb” to me. Apart from his clever spin of a story from his past as a false analogy about spam (being shot by a cop is not the same as having to free your site from a spam ban), I don’t have ANY sympathy for advertisers who send notices that are unwanted.
Even if it was a passive box checked that you did not uncheck (what piss-poor tactics!), if after I visit a site, I get “merchandise updates” that I did not really want, it is spam, spam, spam.
And shut that site down if the complaints reach a legitimate level.
Ah, the assertive Petrie!
There used to be a time when the word was that you NEVER respond to “unsubscribe” links because that shows that you’re real and you get lots of spam. Today, this is no longer true. All legitimate businesses that you might buy online from, have an interest in being friendly and cooperative. Also they will honor the unsubscribe requests without fail. The question is, was the business legitimate in the first place.
I have two reasons why I can state that. I use, in my business, an opt-in mailing list that gets our newsletters. That’s not very often, but they get them. When I meet a new contact at a conference, I’ll put that person (if I remember) on the opt-in list, assuming that they will opt-out after the first email if they so choose. We always honor those.
Also, I happen to have a daughter who is in the online marketing business and actually creates these big corporate email messages that we get – it happens to be in an industry you and I don’t much patronize (kitchen supplies, furniture, decorations). She will attest to my statements above. It’s not spam if it happens once and you choose not to unsubscribe.
However, I am NOT going to put your address on my company newsletter, assertive Petrie.
Oh, Norbie, I love the way you call me “assertive.”
That said, go ahead, put me on Norbotechnics.com advertising, and I might even keep from unsubscribing.
If indeed I am assertive (hey, I just love a little civil digital give-and-take), it’s just because I learn from you, a guy I am light-years away from.
You, Norbert Haupt, are a tech-savvy business-knowledgeable, entrepreneurial California sun-worshiper.
I am a techno-phobe, business-fuzzy, leisure knowledgeable Midwest cloud-worshiper. We were meant to converse via the grid.
Makes me think of Narcissus and Goldmund, or better, the Professor and the Merchant.