This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.
This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.
1 Nov 2006
Last month I called out EcoPhones for spamming me. Over the course of the last few years I’ve gotten spam to several Scout-related email addresses I have, to mailing lists I’m on, and to a honeypot email address (an email address hidden on a web site and only used to attract spam scrapers).
Within a few days a search for “EcoPhones Lankford” on Google turned up my post on the front page. A week later, and I’m the number two search result on Google for EcoPhones — right behind the company’s site.
That sure caught their attention. The company’s COO Walter Engelbrecht left a comment chastising me for casting their company in a negative light. After all, he says, they perform good deeds.
EcoPhones has helped more than 20,000 schools, churches and community groups nationwide raise in excess of $1,500,000 while recycling more than 100 tons of potentially hazardous cellular waste.
And, he continues, if I don’t want their spam, I can always ask them to stop sending it. He concludes by suggesting I’m giving the wrong message about EcoPhones…
We understand you’re upset but your negative posting sends the wrong message to the vast number of young scout troops across the country eager to participate in their communities.
I replied in the comments, but I figure such good stuff shouldn’t be buried in a comment page. There’s some great arguments against spamming in general. So here it is…
Walter,
You’re a worthy cause in the same sense that disease-bearing rats are a valuable part of the ecosystem. I’m sure they have their uses, but I don’t want them in my house.
I’ve re-read my blog and realized that I’m not sending the right message. The message I intended to send was to point out that EcoPhones is a disreputable organization that any scout troop should avoid like the plague.
A company with such a low ethical bar that they’d resort to spamming scouting volunteers isn’t the sort of company that matches Scouting’s ideals.
If you’re a scouting organization and want to run a cell phone recycling fundraiser, give http://www.eco-cell.org/ a try. I don’t have any connection to them and haven’t used them, but as far as I can tell, they perform the same service and don’t spam individuals and mailing lists.
You see, marketers who care about other people use opt-in email marketing. They respect my time. They don’t attempt to co-opt my resources for their own gains.
If you were a worthwhile company you would spend your own money on your advertising instead of spending mine.
The fact that I have an email address on a Scouting web site doesn’t give you or anyone else the right to flood my mailbox with commercial offers. In searching for your company, I’ve found numerous email lists that you’ve spammed, often repeatedly, with your offers. Did those email lists have a leadership position in a scout troop too? Be truthful. Any non-profit organization that might need money is a target for the crap you’re peddling. If you can scrape an email address, you’ll send the trash, hoping it reaches a warm body.
Lowlife scumbags like porn peddlers, counterfeit watch dealers, and financial scammers promote their goods with spam. Be mindful of the company you keep lest you be painted by the same brush.
You want to start giving back to the community? Start by renouncing your spamming ways.
Adam,
As a former Boy Scout myself I sincerely invite you to visit us at our main office in Dallas, TX. It is my hope that once you’ve see the tremendous community service we provide you might reconsider your opinion of us. Our offices are located at:
EcoPhones 15054 Beltway Addison, TX 75001 (888) Eco-Phones
Lastly, I’ve included our Dun & Bradstreet credit rating number, i.e. DUNS 12-002-0289, which demonstrates our superior payment history to our growing base of 20,000+ schools, churches and community groups such as the Scouts.
Lastly, you are correct - www.eco-cell.org is also a very reputable company. Thank you.
Regards,
Walter Engelbrecht EcoPhones
My opinion of you us that you’re a spammer. As long as you send spam, you’ll always be a spammer. Regardless of what noble causes you’re trying to promote, regardless of your credit rating, regardless of anything else you do, if you market via spam, you are by definition a spammer.
And spammers are scum.
You apparently don’t like being called a spammer because you keep showing up here to defend yourself. So stop spamming, and people will stop calling you a spammer.
My goodness! The most unfortunate part of this entire article is your sour attitude Mr. Kalsey. As a representative of the scouting world, I would hope that you could better address situations. As spamming can cause interuptions in anyones day, this company is trying to promote something worth while. Comparing this company and “porn peddlers” is out of line and you should be ashamed of yourself. I would certainly not let you, an anti-spammer (yes, we got it), be a part of any child’s upbringing. Shame on you!
Odd, I don’t see the place where I compared them to pornographers. What I did say is that the advertising technique they are using is used primarily by swindlers and porn peddlers. Hopefully, a reputable organization would realize that this isn’t the company they should keep.
What a spammer is attempting to promote is irrelevant. The ends do not justify the means. Regardless of how worthwhile your cause is, if you promote it by spam, you are harming yourself and, in a growing number of jurisdictions, committing a crime.
Spam far worse a problem than “interruptions in [your] day” as you suggest. Spam costs businesses billions of dollars annually. Spam shifts the costs of advertising from the advertiser to consumers and employers. Spam ties up mail systems and prevents legitimate, often important, email from being received. It is a growing problem, with some estimates showing that 90% of email sent today is spam up from 30% only a couple of years ago.
Perhaps EcoPhones should take to promoting their fine service with graffiti sprayed onto the walls of others. After all, they’re promoting something so worthwhile and virtuous that the abuse of others resources shouldn’t be an issue.
Lastly, I’m dismayed that someone anonymously asserting themselves to be “a representative of the scouting world” would suggest they have the right to determine who should be allowed to raise a child. I’m embarrassed that someone with
Shame on you for hiding behind a pseudonym and preaching from your high horse. I’m willing to show my name, my face, and even my contact information. Your company email address and the ISP you used to post the comment are both in Dallas. Is there perhaps a connection between you and EcoPhones?
Actually after re-reading the original comment, I’m unsure whether the anonymous commenter is claiming to be a representative of scouting or saying that I am said representative.
Adam Kalsey
Mobile: 916.600.2497
Email: adam AT kalsey.com
AIM or Skype: akalsey
©1999-2008 Adam Kalsey.
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Adam Kalsey
Clay Smith
November 1, 2006 8:21 PM
Amen, brother. It’s unfortunate how many similar seedy companies exist feeding upon the ignorance of the non-profit community. I like to think though, that like yourself, the great majority of Scout volunteers remember the Scouting way in all of their dealings.