Re: Objections to adverts?

From: Jim McLennan <jmclennan@trashcity.org>

Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000

In article <DrBJuE.Ip3@deshaw.com> lindahl@deshaw.com "Greg Lindahl" writes:

> In article <831756178snz@trashcity.org>,
> Jim McLennan  <jmclennan@trashcity.org> wrote:
>
> >His whinges about "having to pay for the adverts" are both childish
> >and arrogant,
>
> I'm sorry that you think that, but it is a common opinion held by a
> lot of Usenetters. If you ever read the postings in
> news.announce.newusers, you might gain some insight into the matter.

I think you'll find that the vast majority of complaints about adverts
are not about commercials per se, but are to do with INAPPROPRIATE
commercials. For example, the advertising of sex phone lines, in non-
sex oriented groups, or "Make money fast" postings just about anywhere.
Few people seriously object to a limited amount of relevant
advertising - not even you. Where better to publicise PBM games, than
in rec.games.pbm? And please don't trot out the tired old "business
groups" answer: subscribing to them merely to read a tiny percentage
of PBM adverts would undeniably increase my signal to noise ratio rather
than decreasing it.

> > The has a problem,
> >I suggest he moves to a service provider that does not charge by the
> >message. There are plenty around.
>
> What an assumption! Let me explain: every posting you make is stored
> on tens of thousands of disks all over the world. That represents
> people volunteering to spread your message to the world. They do it
> not because of blind altruism, but because they might be interested in
> the contents of your posting. My company is an investment bank, and
> they have no interest in storing your ads on our disk. My old access
> used to be through a university, who also had no interest in storing
> your ads on their disk.

I think it's pretty goddamn unlikely that an investment bank would
be interested in ANY of the postings to rec.games.pbm! [If they
do, then I pity their customers] I imagine they are ESPECIALLY
uninterested in whinges about the number of adverts, possibly less
so than any adverts themselves... If you really wanted to save your
company's disk space, then shutting up would probably be the greatest
service you could do! :-) Bitches about adverts, responses to bitches
about adverts, etc, certainly outnumber the adverts themselves these days
(about a quarter of ALL messages in this group at the moment!).

> I don't object to a single ad for a game. In fact, I'm happy to
> collect together commercial ads and post them on a regular basis.
> Perhaps it makes more sense to listen to what I say instead of what
> people say I say?

Perhaps you could practice what you preach. I have personally never
posted an advert for a game here (since I don't GM, it's simply
impossible), so the multiple comments in your reply to me, saying things
like "your ads", are factually incorrect.

I, for one, do not expect every news item in a group to be of interest
to me. There are many articles here about games I do not play in, and
never will play in. I do not get on my high horse about it and condemn
the people who post them because I don't happen to play their games.
I say again, if you find the content of this news group unacceptable,
you do not have to subscribe to it. I think it most unlikely that
rec.games.pbm would collapse into chaos as a result. I sincerely doubt
that the lack of fastcash postings here is due in any way to your flaming
of GMs. ;-)
--
Jim McLennan   (unofficial keeper of the proposed Nastassja Kinski FAQ,
but until it appears, try http://www2.magmacom.com/~wduford/nasty.htm)

!!!!     Issue 16/17 of 'Trash City' now finally out          !!!!
!!!!    104 pages of the same sort of cynical stuff...        !!!!
!!!!      E-mail editor@trashcity.org for order info          !!!!

References

Objections to adverts?
Jim McLennan <jmclennan@trashcity.org>
Fri, 10 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Objections to adverts?
lindahl@deshaw.com (Greg Lindahl)
Mon, 13 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Objections to adverts?
Jim McLennan <jmclennan@trashcity.org>
Fri, 10 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Objections to adverts?
lindahl@deshaw.com (Greg Lindahl)
Mon, 13 May 1996 00:00:00 +0000