AOL the ISP has started an Advertiser certification business with its partner Goodmailsystems, and I’m reeling not from any technological breakthroughs achieved, but the terrific prose the competition has come up with to criticize it.
“This takes a system that works and shoves a stick in the flywheel of communication.” – from Subscribermail, a competitor. Another one says “It’s taxation of the good guys with cash, and it does nothing to help the good guys who can’t afford the cost or to deter the bad guys who spam anyway.”
Thoughts: The first quote was probably made by a part time mechanic, hence the flywheel bit. Creative, somewhat kitsch, but I guess it works.
The second quote about the taxation bit is rubbish, but is true when it says it won’t “deter the bad guys who spam anyway”. AOL is marketing this thing as a spam deterrent, which is probably true if everyone was an AOL subscriber. Until then though they shouldn’t expect spam to lessen.
At any rate, a certified email system is a good business idea whose time has come. I qualify that this is a ‘business’ idea, not a techie one, because techies would never agree to this.
Techies aka mail sysads want users to learn. Learn to not spread their email addresses around, learn to not accept strange email attachments, learn to read only legitimate looking email (provided they know what a legit email looks like to begin with). In other words, get smart and learn to fend for yourself on the internet.
Users usually reply with yeah, ok sure I’ll do that – but the sad truth is they never do. It’s obvious. Spam continues to proliferate. Viruses – need I say more? At my own client, the staff continues to insist on using Outlook – with no filtering and the preview pane on – even as I’ve told them over and over again how dangerous that is and after I installed Thunderbird as an alternative. Games are continuously downloaded from the ‘net, and popups are all over the place.
It would be ok if that was just the clerks, but even the big bosses – get this – actually print out some of the spam they receive, mostly the medical ones, and memo it around thinking they’re doing everyone a favor. So far it’s mostly harmless stuff, but I’m sure a hoax is gonna get posted on the bulletin board one day. I’m hoping I have a digicam by then to mark the occasion and maybe send it to PCMag’s rear page one day or something.
Myself and some other more knowledgable staff could try and educate everyone til we get hoarse, but it’ll only get a shrug, sheepish smile, and that’s it – battle lost. Besides, who has the guts to tell the bosses they’re acting like suckers? Again we just shrug our shoulders and console ourselves with the thought that their intention was good.
And now, AOL’s gonna cash in on this and put up a Certified Email Service that essentially protects people from their own lack of awareness. My tech side says “let em learn!”, but my business side says “We could make some money out of this.”.
Nice one, G.
Really, more people in charge, even if they aren’t techies, ought to adopt the techie mentality. Most of us like to use our powers for good, right?
I failed to mention that those bosses had been using email for five years na, and they still haven’t learned. Sigh. :)
btw, Tanya you’ve such a perfect name for a job in I.T. Reminds me so much of the Tanya in C&C Red Alert. Lock n’ Load! :)