In my view Mr. Melzer, the number of catalog and website postings on
Exlibris is just the lazy man's way of spamming. The result is that I get
unsolicited mail either way. And for those of you who may think that I do
not read catalogs, on the contrary; *I* find the dealers who specialize in
the types of materials I want to acquire as do most collectors and
librarians worth their weight.
As for filtering, please know that not all email systems are created equal
and what you are suggesting is impossible for some email programs.
Priscilla Thomas
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Melzer <pm@pmbooks.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <exlibris@library.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 9:41 PM
Subject: Spam, no; filtering, yes.
> A problem arises from Ms. Thomas' suggestion below. It's called
"SPAM."
> Many of us find unsolicited commercial email considerably more offensive
than
> the "on-topic," commercial listserv postings (not directed personally)
which we
> are speaking of here. Why not consider exlibris to be akin to an ongoing
> conference where various discussions are taking place. In the main hall
there
> are several tables set up with commercial flyers to take up, or simply
leave on
> the table. Simple enough, in my opinion, to select the group one wishes to
join
> for thoughtful dialogue, and bypass altogether the "commercial" handouts.
From
> what I've heard in response to the moderator's edict, most of us agree.
> We all know about the loads of junk mail we get at home. To suggest
that
> booksellers ought to "go to the . . . trouble" to take the listing of all
the
> email addresses of exlibris participants and send out unsolicited,
commercial
> email (SPAM) is a terrible idea. I'd would hate to see it happen, and
suspect
> that Mr. Powers mentioned this alternative with "tongue in cheek."
> Might I suggest to our moderator the possibility of a subset of
messages, as
> we do on the ABAA list, whereby the sender's email is automatically placed
for
> any reply. The two subsets of messages are (discuss) and (trade). In the
latter
> group anyone hitting the "reply" button will automatically begin composing
a
> response to that party directly. I would think that some penalty could be
in
> place for those dealers who would not use this mode of posting, say after
> several mis-directed postings of catalogue/website announcements. And,
HUZZAH,
> we could all utilize filters in our mail systems to automatically place
them in
> the trashcan should we wish to do so.
> Just a thought.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Paul Melzer, a bookseller who has not yet posted to exlibris anything
> commercial, but much of whose current scholarship is tied intrinsically to
> commerce. (Alas!)
>
> Priscilla Thomas wrote:
>
> > What a novel idea, Mr. Powers! Imagine booksellers who actually would
go to
> > that kind of trouble (that has to take all of what, say about 5
minutes?)
> > My guess is, which isn't really a guess, is that really successful
> > booksellers already do this rather than jumping on Exlibris every time
they
> > have a new catalog or new addition to their website. And here's another
> > novel suggestion....why not, and I know this is really going out on a
> > limb...., but why doesn't some eager bookseller set up an electronic
list
> > where their catalogs and websites can be advertised exclusively and book
> > collectors and librarians can subscribe. You can bet there wouldn't be
any
> > position annoucements there. Exlibris, then, could be devoted to
> > *discussion*.
>
> --
>
>
>
> Paul Melzer
> P.O. Box 1143
> 12 E. Vine Street
> Redlands, California 92373
> USA
>
> Member
> *Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America
> *International League of Antiquarian Booksellers
> *Manuscript Society of America
>
> (909) 792-7299
> mailto:pm@pmbooks.com
>
>