On Sun, 10 Dec 1995 12:14, Murph Sewall <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >>Robert Kapela wrote: >>This was not a spam. I have only sent this message to some people who are >>active list owners/administers and might benefit and be interested in my >>offer. > >The usual definition is an unsolicited promotional message (it doesn't have >to be commercial) sent to a number of people who do not share a narrowly >focused interest. If you only sent your message to list owners, whether it's >spam or not is arguable. However, in my professional opinion, promoting a >list hosting service to those who already own active lists is somewhat akin >to trying to sell iceboxes to Eskimos. On that ground, your message was a >waste of bandwidth--a rationale for objecting to spam in general. In my humble opinion, the posting was no different from Eric's "non-spam", which I reproduce, in part, below. It advertises a quite-similar service, and I didn't see any "flames" about this blatantly-commercial post. P.S. Murph, remember that Eskimos do need iceboxes, at least part of the time. P.P.S. It's now politically-correct to use the term "Inuit". +--- | Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995 21:09:50 EST | From: Eric Thomas <[log in to unmask]> | Organization: L-Soft international, Inc. | Subject: L-Soft starts budget list hosting service for hobby lists | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | This message is an L-Soft announcement. L-Soft is the company that sells | LISTSERV(TM), LMail(TM) and other networking products and services. This | message is not a spam; it is only being posted to lists which are owned | and operated by L-Soft and discuss L-Soft products or services. For this | announcement, the following lists have been selected: | | LISTSERV95-L LISTSERV for Windows 95 Support Forum | LSOFT-ANNOUNCE L-Soft announcements | -> LSTOWN-L LISTSERV list owners' forum | LSTSRV-E Forum for LISTSERV evaluation kit users | LSTSRV-L LISTSERV administrators - give and take forum | | All these lists are operated by L-Soft and related to L-Soft products. If | you wish to unsubscribe, simply send a message to [log in to unmask] | with the following command in the text of your message: | | SIGNOFF LSTOWN-L | | If you have any question about this announcement, please write to | [log in to unmask] for more information. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | A HAVEN FOR HOMELESS LISTS | | December 1, 1995 | | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | | (Washington, DC) ... [SNIP!]