e-mail lists

[flamesong]

When the British 9/11 movement was in its germination, I happily exchanged e-mails with half a dozen or so individuals with whom I shared information. When I got an e-mail from one of these people, it felt like it was addressed to me, even if I had been CC'ed on somemody else's message.

Now, the amount of e-mail I get from people who belong to this movement outweighs the amount of e-mail I get offering me Víagra, fake watches and rapid investment plans combined. I used to read it all when it was manageable, now just scanning through it all to see what might be interesting has become a time and energy consuming excercise and most of the time most of the e-mail goes unread.

How has it got to the point where all this e-mail is flying about, most of it addressed to one individual or another, but the writer feels the need to shout their message to 75+ other people who have been CC'ed.

Why are these people not using this forum where people can read whatever they want without it clogging up their mailbox.

I'm not going to name names (just yet) but there are about a dozen people who think that everybody should join in with their arguments. Well, for the record, I don't. Especially when the subject strays way off 9/11 and is very often trivial, mundane, boring personal blogging or huge copied and pasted articles which somebody thinks they are the first to read.

If a topic is worthy of discussion, I can't see any reason why such discussion cannot take place here. Any argument that the discussion is somehow sensitive is total bullshít because the addresses in the CC field are indiscriminate and are being fired off to anybody with an e-mail address.

For the record, not that I think it will make the slightest difference, I would like my e-mail addresses removed from all bulk mailing, ie. any email addresses which include either flamesong or okulo.

[flamesong]

I have had several e-mails from individuals who are still sending bulk e-mails indiscriminately claiming that they are not doing so.

And it has been suggested that the responsibilty for dealing with the problem is mine.

For the record, to those who think otherwise, since legislation was introduced on 11th December 2003, it is necessary to get the permission of the recipient before sending mass e-mail. Since this date predates the establishment of this website - ergo the establishment of a UK 9/11 Truth Movement - by two years, any mass mailings would have required the permission of the recipient. Does anybody have any record of how this e-mail list was established and who has granted their permission.

I only make this point because although I never granted such permission, until recently (when the substance of the mailings became largely either massive copy and paste articles, personal spats or items which I will politely call 'off topic' and increased to a volume of 20+ on some days) I had been content to receive occasional e-mails of relevant news.

Is anybody willing to take responsibility for the management of the mailing list? It has been suggested that I am in a minority of one - but had the person claiming this read all the 9/11 list mail over the last year they would have seen a handful of e-mails from other people requesting that they be excluded from the spam - they probably gave up trying out of sheer exasperation. And how many others are there who are simply resigned to the situation.

[Annie]

Hi Flamesong

I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the official 911 supporters' mailing list which, as far as I'm aware, is used only to make major anouncements, like proposals for national conferences, or individual's mailing lists which you are included in?

If the former, we can easily remove your address if you so wish, or indeed do a mass email(!) to everyone asking them only to use it for strictly defined campaigning business so that people do not feel spammed. If the later, can the inividuals in question not just remove you?

Regards

Annie

[flamesong]

Hi Annie,

I am quite happy to remain on an official list which only makes official announcements. I'm referring to the ad hoc mass mailing which has been using the e-mail addresses which may well have leaked from the official list. The recipients of these e-mails number from around 60 to over 100 so I imagine that people have compiled their own 9/11 lists from the mass e-mails they themselves receive.

I have been e-mailing the perpetrators and it has reduced somewhat but there are still people who indiscriminately copy and paste recipients from the e-mails they receive. I find it especially annoying when the sender believes that 100 people need to read their two word, 'fair comment' type response to somebody else's thoughts or that everybody should be listening in on what ought to be a private disagreement - as if they are trying to canvass people into taking sides.

If nothing else, I think that 9/11 issues, if worthy of being discussed, should be shared here, centrally and in the open, and not cluttering up everybody's in-box.

Regards,

FS

[Annie]

Thanks for that Flamesong. Let's hope that the emailers respect your wishes.

It's worth pointing out that JHR recently set up a chat facility on this forum. Perhaps we need to encourage them to use it.

Regards

Annie