Old news (was Re: OT: vendor contacts after list posting)

[Alan Amesbury <amesbury () OITSEC UMN EDU>]

John Kristoff wrote:

> Agreed and it may fall under the spirit of the "Promotional Messages and
> Advertising" guidelines for this list.  Hopefully the moderators will
> chime in and clarify.

They already have.  See below.

> > Maybe this is common practice and I'm just being naive. Any thoughts?
>
> Only by spammers.  You have some options:
>
>   o  delete and ignore, perhaps for a sour opinion of the represented
>      organization
>   o  complain publicly (you choose this)
>   o  complain to vendor (marginally useful in my experience)

Ah, yes.....  I started a thread like this a couple years ago:

http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0502&L=security&T=0&F=&S=&P=13259


Perhaps in response to the level-headed suggestion by Theresa Semmens
(ndsu.edu) in the message

http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0502&L=security&D=0&T=0&P=15023


Joan Couse sent out the following:

http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0502&L=security&D=0&T=0&P=15148


So, you vendors out there who are thinking that address harvesting of
EDUCAUSE is an easy, convenient way to get your foot in the door, think
again.  Using EDUCAUSE in this way may backfire badly.  (And, yes, I
know it's a minority of vendors that do this.  If the shoe fits and all
that.....)

> and my favorite, if they send you a large attachment, which is just
> a PDF brochure of something they're trying to get you interested in,
> don't get made get even... send them back the "I see you're interested
> in bvu.edu, we have an excellent range of programs, this 10 MB attachment
> is our course schedule, in it you will find contact information for fall registration..." :-)

ROTFL!  Note, however, that I'm not requesting your catalog at this
time.  ;-)


--
Alan Amesbury
OIT Security and Assurance
University of Minnesota