Argus AAD e-mails.

[freefalljenn 0]

Has anyone else been getting e-mails about the Argus AAD from the e-mail address:
william@argus-aad.com
If so, do you have any idea how this person got our contact information? Also, do you know how to get off of their mailing list. I am not interested in this information or this AAD. I don't want to simply reply to the e-mail ask to be removed because I don't want to show "william" that this is a live e-mail address. Thanks for the help.

jenn
Tunnel Junkie Since November 2005! ;o)~
TPM #46
Paraclete XP TPM Delegate

[piisfish 140]

write to him ans ask him to remove your name from the mailing list.

I don't know how they got our names though... Maybe from the Vigil list...

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[HeatherB 0]

I've been getting those emails as well. I don't know how they got my hotmail address.

[pilotdave 0]

I got it twice. I wrote back to the address it came from. They use a spam blocking service (a little ironic i guess), but your email goes through if you go to a validation page (just gotta type in a series of letters so they know you're a real person).

I made them an offer for an alternative form of advertising... I guess I spammed them back. But they never responded.

Spam sucks, that's why I only sell email addresses to the V1agra and pen1s pump people.... they pay the most and I think we all support their products. Skydiving spam's gotta stop though!

BTW, I know where they got one of my addresses... off the alti-2 field service member web page. I get a bit of spam from that one.

EDIT: Well I heard back from them. Looks like they're gonna take me up on my offer. So get ready to receive spam for the all new Argus Pen1s Pump! Only $29.95 if you act now! What synergy!

Dave

[BIGUN 1,432]

There is a remove from email list at the bottom of the email.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[IanHarrop 42]

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BTW, I know where they got one of my addresses... off the alti-2 field service member web page. I get a bit of spam from that one.

I am on the Alti-2 Field Service list and have yet to receive an email from Argus-AAD. Maybe I'm just lucky

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[darkwing 5]

I'd be comfortable using their opt-out feature. It is a small community. I generally wouldn't use an opt-out for the reason you specify, but in this case I think it is OK.

As to how they got it, I suspect they bought an email list from someone, USPA, DZ.com, skydiving mag...??? Personally I don't mind getting skydiving related unsolicited stuff. It is such a tiny portion of my email load, and is usually a pleasant diversion.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[kelpdiver 2]

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There is a remove from email list at the bottom of the email.

for true spam, clicking the [remove from] link is the equlievent of taping a KICK ME sign to your ass.

But for this sort of targetted mail, it's likely to be safe. And anyone that wants to contact them to complain should do so as well. Many companies don't realize how much they can piss off potential customers with this sort of thing, and a new AAD competitor even less established than Vigil probably shouldn't be looking for new barriers to success.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Has anyone else been getting e-mails about the Argus AAD from the e-mail address:
william@argus-aad.com
[/reply

If so, do you have any idea how this person got our contact information?

The flaming asswipe searched for web pages containing "skydiving" and sent mail to all of the e-mail addresses contained in those pages.

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Also, do you know how to get off of their mailing list. I am not interested in this information or this AAD.

Bounce all mail from anyone at argus-aad.com and don't worry about it.

[kelpdiver 2]

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The flaming asswipe searched for web pages containing "skydiving" and sent mail to all of the e-mail addresses contained in those pages.

web harvester, eh? Whenever possible, avoid publishing email addresses. I think it was many years ago that this became the primary method for collection instead of USENET. And the sort of people that do this probably won't respect a robots.txt file.

[IanHarrop 42]

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Has anyone else been getting e-mails about the Argus AAD from the e-mail address:
william@argus-aad.com
[/reply

If so, do you have any idea how this person got our contact information?

The flaming asswipe searched for web pages containing "skydiving" and sent mail to all of the e-mail addresses contained in those pages.

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Also, do you know how to get off of their mailing list. I am not interested in this information or this AAD.

Bounce all mail from anyone at argus-aad.com and don't worry about it.

Are you sure of this? As I stated above my email is on the Alti-2 Field Service page and I've yet to get an email from them. If they had indeed done this email harvesting you say wouldn't I have been sent an email too?

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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The flaming asswipe searched for web pages containing "skydiving" and sent mail to all of the e-mail addresses contained in those pages.

Are you sure of this?

Positive. They sent mail to all four e-mail addresses appearing on my web pages which contain "skydiving" including one listed in the HTML comments (not used any place else in the world, not even visible if a human visits those web pages). Makes it easy to identify such messages as spam.

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As I stated above my email is on the Alti-2 Field Service page and I've yet to get an email from them. If they had indeed done this email harvesting you say wouldn't I have been sent an email too?

They may not have looked at that page yet, may have looked at an old version, or your ISP may have filtered the spam.

[apoil 0]

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Has anyone else been getting e-mails about the Argus AAD from the e-mail address:
william@argus-aad.com
If so, do you have any idea how this person got our contact information? Also, do you know how to get off of their mailing list. I am not interested in this information or this AAD. I don't want to simply reply to the e-mail ask to be removed because I don't want to show "william" that this is a live e-mail address. Thanks for the help.

Argus obviously trolled online sites and forums or obtained our emails by some other unethical means.

The suggestion that we "ask to be removed" is unacceptable. We should not have to ask to be removed from a list we never placed ourselves on in the first place.

Just because we are skydivers and they are a skydiving company doesn't make this not spam. If every company with a legitimate reason to believe you'd be interested in their product sent you an email you'd be "asking to be removed" thousands of times per day.

Argus has sent a clear message:
"hey we are just like pornographers, illegal pharmacies, and nigerian con-artists, would you like to entrust us with your lives?"

Anyone who purchases an argus AAD at this point is explicitly endorsing their behavior and setting the stage for more spam in the future.

Spam is a violation of the contract they signed with their Internet Service provider. What they sent is REALLY SPAM. It is unsolicited commercial broadcast email, it doesn't matter if it was "targetted". Are you going to do business with someone who doesn't respect the contracts they sign?

[divnswoop 0]

Wow! What a joke.....There are so many ways companies can get ahold of your email address. If you think what they are doing is unethical, you better be scared about the rest of the world. All those little "customer cards" on your key-ring track EVERYTHING you do with that business. And in turn they will share that information with other companies. I think it is absolutely hysterical that somebody can get this upset about an email.

Anyway, my question is..... I'm a member of uspa, been on dz.com alot, and several other skydiving sites but I didn't get the email.(although I wish I did so I could educate myself on the new gear) Where did they get your email address? From a manufacturer? Something you have susbcribed to? Some website?

My second question is....... Do you guys work for airtec/ vigil?? I mean c-mon it takes less than a second to hit delete on your computer....I know that isn't the point and all but....

[sid 1]

SWOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeez, Swoop has become the voice of common sense, listen carefully the horsemen must be saddling up........

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[apoil 0]

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SWOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeez, Swoop has become the voice of common sense, listen carefully the horsemen must be saddling up........

common sense? Just let everyone spam you, and you'll keep paying for it?

Do you like when telemarketers disturb you at dinner? What if they called every two seconds. So often that your phone became useless? What if some guy got the idea to drive up and down your street with a loudspeaker broadcasting about a sale at the supermarket? What if every business on main street decided it was a good idea?

What about when you show up at your business in the morning, and your fax machine is out of paper because you've received 100 advertisements and you are missing legitimate business opportunities? What if your voice mail were constantly full of advertising messages. All these "useful" technologies would become completely ineffective if they were abused to that degree. Most will argue that that has already happened to email.

Or the other argument is that it doesn't happen so often now, and only scam artists and bottom feeders employ junk email. Well that's who is trying to sell you a life saving device, and if you give them your business you are promoting the problem. The people who buy stuff from spammers these days are worse than the spammers themselves.

[divnswoop 0]

.....sounds like you need to write your congressman or something..Spam is something that slows the business world.....It's the way things are...Get the government to change it..

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only scam artists and bottom feeders employ junk email. Well that's who is trying to sell you a life saving device, and if you give them your business you are promoting the problem.

Looks like I'm worse than a spammer...In fact I would gather to think a lot of people have supported a "spam" email of some sorts. I would have to move to a remote island and grow my own food because I get spam from EVERYBODY. Food, Clothing, Products, and many "other" companies. Out of curiousity..... The business you work for/ own doesn't do ANY form of advertising?

[sid 1]

Swoop..... remember what I told you about winning arguments on the internet and the special olympics

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[bob.dino 1]

Spam = Unsolicited Commercial Email. That means email you don't want. If you sign up with Amazon & request all their email letters, it's not spam. And yes, certain forms of it are illegal in the USA - see the CAN-SPAM act.

I'm with apoil on this one.

[divnswoop 0]

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Spam = Unsolicited Commercial Email. That means email you don't want. If you sign up with Amazon & request all their email letters, it's not spam. And yes, certain forms of it are illegal in the USA - see the CAN-SPAM act.

I'm with apoil on this one.

note.....I never said it wasn't spam.....I hate all that BS I get too......I just don't see starting a smear campaign on a skydiving manufacturer for using these methods.... It is common practice with MOST commercial operations. Grated it may not come in the form of an email like Argus....but...some do.

So... I'll leave this on to you guys....I hate spam too....trust me....I don't think Argus is a bad company because of this though.

[bob.dino 1]

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I don't think Argus is a bad company because of this though.

Me neither. I think they're foolish, and probably just being naive. If, however, it's the start of a pattern of behaviour, they'll find themselves without any customers.

[divnswoop 0]

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Me neither. I think they're foolish, and probably just being naive.

It is a very common thing though..(target advertising) You would be very surprised how much Kraft spends finding out if you like chedder or not. Spending 5 years in the advertising business it's scary how much they know about certain States, cities, zipcodes, or even you!! I have never argued that this is something good or I like.... I just think it is a "acceptable" way to advertise in the States right now.
.....I still hate spam.....

[apoil 0]

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I don't think Argus is a bad company because of this though.

Me neither. I think they're foolish, and probably just being naive. If, however, it's the start of a pattern of behaviour, they'll find themselves without any customers.

foolish and naive. And I think we can add careless as well. Careless because they didn't realize that it would piss off at least a few recipients, careless because it is a violation of the terms of service agreement they made with their service provider.

can we agree on that, then? foolish, naive and careless?

ok... now.. who wants to buy a life saving device from them?

[apoil 0]

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It is a very common thing though..(target advertising) You would be very surprised how much Kraft spends finding out if you like chedder or not.

spam is not advertising.

When Kraft spends money doing their research, that's fine. That's free enterprise and that's legitimate business. With spam there's nothing legitimate about it, because the sender doesn't pay their fair share.

Just like a telemarketing call to your cell phone using up your anytime minutes. Just like a fax advertisement that uses up the paper and toner you paid for. It may only be a fraction of a penny per violation, but I get THOUSANDS of spam messages every day.

If EVERY company that had a legitimate reason to think that you might be interested in their product sent you one email message per year, your email would be overloaded and useless.

***
.....I still hate spam.....
***

If you buy from spammers they will keep spamming.

[bob.dino 1]

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can we agree on that, then? foolish, naive and careless?

ok... now.. who wants to buy a life saving device from them?

If they were trying to sell me internet marketing services, I'd laugh them out of town. They're not, they're trying to sell me an electronic device designed for skydiving.

Competence, or the lack thereof, in one area doesn't necessarily reflect on their competence in others.

For example: Aerodyne have the most god-awful Flash monstrosity of a site, but they still manage to make good skydiving gear.