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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True® - the First For-Profit E-mail Publication (and Still Going Strong). |
Online Life Archives
No Looking Back
My business plan for True predicted I'd be able to quit my Day Job two years after launch and work online full time.
Sure enough, almost to the day, I did that -- no more Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Virtual Friends
I was chuffed (as one of my Australian subscribers would put it) this weekend to meet Cathie Walker, formerly the Head Honcho of the Centre for the Easily Amused web site (later SillyBuddiess.com), who was in Denver briefly on business. I met her at the airport, and there was an "incident" that kind of sets the tone for my life.
We were standing there waiting for her bag to drop onto the carousel and, when it did, she stepped up to grab it. I watched as she stepped in front of a man in his 50s who was in her blind spot. He had a terribly bothered look on his face, rolling his eyes, sighing disgustedly, etc. As he went around her, he walked right in front of me (cutting me off, of course!)
Fork U!
I was apparently the first "Guest Columnist" on the interesting web-site-quality-really-needs-improvement site, "Fork in the Head" ("because flawed web sites deserve a fork in the head"), which offers lessons in improvement called, yep, "Fork University". I (let's hope) supplied some words of wisdom about appealing to a wide audience.
Oddly, the article is no longer there, so how about if you decide whether it's useful?! Here's what I wrote:
Speaking of People Doing Dumb Things
I absolutely cannot believe how fast the "sircam" virus is spreading. Why is that dumb? Let's put it this way: people still run MS LookOut! (er... I guess it's called "Outlook", isn't it?) as their mail program despite that it again and again and again proves to be too week to avoid trojan horses like sircam (and "I love you" and "Snow White" And... AND...!! How many more until people dump it?!)
A Truly Heartwarming Story
In doing my research every week, I've been noticing more and more stories about spammers. They're lately trying to come "out of the closet" to defend what they're doing (you know: pump incredible amounts of vile garbage into your e-mail inbox). They go to huge efforts to mask the true source of their mail and do everything possible to get past filters set up to stop them. Meaning, of course, that they absolutely disregard your clear desire to not get their junk mail. How disgustingly arrogant! Yet they want people to know what they're doing is "not illegal" (in most places, perhaps), is "free speech" (just like throwing rocks with notes attached through your windows is "free speech") and is just them "trying to make a living" (try working, you slimeballs!)
Bonzer Debut
I've added a new weekly feature to True: the "Bonzer Web Site of the Week" has been added just above the Honorary Unsubscribe. I accept site suggestions for this feature only from Premium subscribers (yes, I'll be checking).
It's a GOOHFy World
"You've caused a notable effect on cultural consciousness." -- that's what one of True's readers said, one of hundreds and hundreds of you who wrote to say that Mike Peters' popular Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip featured a "Get Out of Hell Free" card.
Hit Squad on Spammers?
I've been clamoring for action on the spam front since 1996. I've even dedicated a web site to a primer on what spam is, how spammers get your address, and other topics (which recently got some minor updates).
No Really: I Want the Leather
In 1999, after I had been working full-time on True for awhile, I found I really missed having peers to chat with, as I did when I had a Day Job. So I started a little group of online entrepreneurs to network with. One of them, Anne Holland, the publisher of MarketingSherpa, which issues interesting marketing and advertising case studies to more than 147,000 readers (more than True? Hey!), shared a story with the group which she has graciously allowed me to repeat here:
The NFL's Copyright: Round Two
The NFL Gives In! -- see Update Below
There's an interesting update on the story and discussion last week about the NFL's fight against churches -- the NFL warned churches not to show the Super Bowl game to parishioners due to copyright restrictions. Wendy Seltzer is a visiting assistant professor at Brooklyn Law School, where she teaches Internet Law, Information Privacy, and Copyright. She's also a fellow with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, and was previously an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She also founded the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, which studies and combats the unwarranted legal threats that "chill" free speech online. "Chilling Effects offers resources for Internet users who face legal threats, and, through its collection of data, we hope to analyze the out-of-court effects of those threats to chill legitimate activity, or, conversely, the extent to which unlawful activity on the Net proves resistant to legal action." In short, she knows copyright law very well.
Internet Security: Have you Checked Your System Lately?
Last week I was chatting with a friend about online security. Not just dealing with spam, but just basic online security: can your computer be hacked? Is there really anyone interested in hacking your computer? The answer might surprise you.
Continue reading "Internet Security: Have you Checked Your System Lately?" »
Public Humiliation vs. Real Punishment
Well of course I have the photos of the bikini-clad fireman. But first things first -- here's the story:
Shift Happens
There's a group of friends I hang out with online, all of us online entrepreneurs. One sent a URL around urging us all to "take 8 minutes to watch the video," adding "if you care about such things, please consider blogging about it and/or passing it on." What things? Our kids. Or, more accurately, the education of our kids. The world is a very, very different place than it was when we were kids.
Verizon: We Know Better than You
Verizon subscribers have had quite the go of it the past few weeks. Three weeks ago their spam filter tripped on a single word in the issue, so the Premium edition was blocked from everyone at Verizon (and their subsidiaries, like GTE.net) -- even if you had followed my recommendation and put thisistrue.com and lyris.net in your personal "whitelist".
Verizon decided that one word was "bad" and bounced every issue. Since there are quite a few Premium subscribers at Verizon, that meant quite a few bounces. That, in turn, "proved" the issues you paid to get are spam, and thus the next week, they bounced it again. And then the third week, last week, again. So many of you complained to them that they called me that second week, and promised they'd fix it. (You saw how well they did!) Last week, I jumped through their stupid "Please unblock me, I'm not a spammer" hoop, and this week's issue will supposedly get through; they insist they're no longer blocking. We'll see.
