[Elecraft] Simple-minded SPAM filters vs. list participation

[Craig Rairdin]

> Please...if you are requesting help, don't insult me by 
> expecting me to jump through these idiotic processes 
> that say, in effect, that your time is more valuable 
> than mine.

I'm normally one who doesn't put up with a lot of crap. I just got a call
from a company asking me to make sure I've submitted my proxy for the
upcoming shareholders meeting. Did you send me the proxy announcement in the
mail? Did it give me three different ways to state my preferences (mail,
Web, and phone)? Is one of my options to withhold my vote? Then why are you
calling me? -- that kind of thing.

However, your logic in this post is self-defeating. By refusing to go
through the process of being whitelisted, you are saying, in effect, that
your time is more valuable than the person to whom you sent the email -- the
same accusation you make of him or her.

Under normal circumstances these systems are harmless as long as they're
working properly. Everyone to whom you send an email should be automatically
added to the whitelist so their response is not blocked. Everyone who sends
an uninvited email is temporarily blocked. In that case the sender obviously
wants their email to go through, so filling out a form to make it happen is
not a problem.

When replying privately to a post on a list like this one, there's no way
you can expect the original sender can pre-approve all list members. So when
you choose to reply privately I don't see why it makes sense to complain
about having to go through the authentication step. Are you really trying to
help a person or is this spirit of helpfulness just a thin veneer over an
otherwise cold, dark heart? The latter seems likely if all it takes to
discourage you from helping is an email asking you to authenticate your
identity. (By the way I'm replying to someone who replied to the original
sender, whose message I missed, so I'm not picking on anyone in particular
here.)

In my position as president of my company I get a lot of unsolicited email
from customers. In many cases I'm sure if we did the math, my time really IS
more valuable than theirs. I like to think that I'm above lording that over
them, however, and have no problem doing a little vision test and filling in
the numbers on an authentication form.

Craig
NZ0R
K1 #1966
K2/100 #4941