Plaxo Ill-considered

12 comments

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1. (name not saved), September 9, 2004

   hosts file entry:
   127.0.0.1 www.plaxo.com
   you don't need them seeing you've opened the email when their bogus little formatted business card rubbish gets its styles from their server...

2. (name not saved), September 9, 2004

   Good tip. I force all my mail to text anyways, but that's definitely a good approach.
   I don't know who irks me more today - Sony or Plaxo.
   Definitely a tough call.

3. (name not saved), September 9, 2004

   I think I checked once a while ago and you'll probably want:
   127.0.0.1 www.plaxo.com plaxo.com

4. (name not saved), September 9, 2004

   I never thought of this before as I haven't received a Plaxo request in a while. I think what I'll do next time is just update with all completely bogus information with a comment or note somehow so that the person who receives the notification will have to contact me personally for my info. May piss some people off but I don't want them putting my info into Plaxo so too bad. Good way to get off people's contact list too!!! :)

5. (name not saved), September 9, 2004

   In earlier versions of the Plaxo client, 1 of the 4 signature card types the Plaxo member could chose from included a "shadow" effect (the card view). This gave the card a more 3D effect. Unfortunately, we mistakenly referenced the shadow images sourced from our web site (www.plaxo.com) rather than including them within the client.
   We've since fixed this bug and we no longer provide the shadow image for the card view format. Unfortunately, users who have already previously created a signature card with the card view will continue to reference the shadow images on our site. In order to avoid this, they can simply rebuild their email signature using Plaxo. New users of Plaxo using the card view format will not have this problem.
   As for Ross's earlier comments about not wanting Plaxo member's to send him Update Requests, I just wanted to make a couple of comments, if I may. Everyone has a right to their own privacy and if you feel a Plaxo member is violating your privacy, please let me know by contacting me at privacy @t plaxo.com so I may act on your report. As a service provider, we have well-established Terms of Service, and if a member if found to be in violation of our TOS, I will remove them from our service.
   I'm also happy to request the member remove you from their address book. Since they have sent you an Update Request, this is an obvious indication they maintain at least your email address within their local address book. I can express to the member that:
   * You do not recognize the member as a known contact
   * You do not wish to provide you updated contact information; and/or
   * You would like to be removed from your local address book; and/or
   * further Update Requests to you may be reported as abuse to abuse @t plaxo.com
   and may result in the member's removal from the Service.
   Alternatively, if you'd like to ensure that a Plaxo member is unable to send a message to you through our service, you may register your email address to our Opt-out/Do Not Mail list.
   Like many Internet services such as eBay, Amazon, MSN, AOL, etc..., we each provide members the ability to send messages through our respective services to individuals who may not be members. Plaxo is the only service to provide non-members the ability to "opt-out" from receiving further messages sent through these services.
   By properly registering your email, we will ensure messages directed to your email are filtered out. We even provide you the option of "opting-out" from a single member or all members. You may register to "opt-out" by clicking on the link included in each Update Request message a member sends or by going directly to: http://www.plaxo.com/opt_out.
   I hope this helps. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.
   Thank you.
   Stacy Martin
   Plaxo Privacy Officer
   privacy @t plaxo.com

6. (name not saved), September 9, 2004

   back to "Like, whatever".
   Like I'm gonna spend more than 10 seconds composing opt-out messages, privacy queries, abuse notices and Plaxo TOS complaints. I simply care not to get involved in things Plaxo.
   Here's a plan - rather than have me spend time gazing into Plaxo's navel, have your developers write a simple routine to see which addresses have been sent at least one Plaxo invitation that has not been responded to in more than 30 days, then flag those addresses and don't send to them any more. I'll be on that list for sure.
   update recipients set dont_send=true where recipient_id in ( select distinct recipient_id from invitations where datediff( invitation_date, now() ) > 30 and response_date is null )

7. (name not saved), September 10, 2004

   Its easier than all that Stacy - rather than have me object on a case by case basis, it would be much easier for everyone involved (and provide your customers with a better Plaxo experience) if your service simply forwarded people that want my updated contact information to here.
   Its a win-win-win! I only have to update my contact info once, your customers always have access to the latest information and Plaxo gets to make sure that everyone walks away happy.
   Whaddya think?
   If that's no go, simply snarf it automatically from here and give it to anyone who asks! But please, please, please - don't use social pressure amongst friends to get me to sign up for something I don't want to!
   (...and thanks for the update re: the card updates. Good to hear that this has been fixed.)

8. (name not saved), September 10, 2004

   Ross - Thanks for the suggestions. As for your second suggestion, we're actually a big supporter and adopter of FOAF but we do feel there are certain technical and privacy issues we'd like to have addressed before fully integrating it into our service. One of our engineers recently presented at the FOAF workshop in Galway, Ireland about this very topic.
   As for your first suggestion, I'm not sure it achieves the vision of creating an infrastructure for the automated updating of contact information amongst individuals. From a technical point of view, that's really what we are building - a way for people to automatically stay connected to others they wish to stay in touch with. There should be no need for update requests, no need for manual updating, etc... People simply always have the latest contact information for their contacts, automatically.
   In many respects, this is already possible between two Plaxo members who are connected to each other. When Plaxo memberA changes his info, he doesn't have to let Plaxo memberB know that his information has changed. He doesn't have to send Plaxo memberB an email with his latest updated information. Assuming that Plaxo memberA has granted permission to Plaxo memberB, Plaxo will automatically update the entry the Plaxo memberB maintains for Plaxo memberA.
   I apologize if this sounds like a shameless plug, but if you were to become a Plaxo member, you could automatically update those people with your contact information and never have to receive an Update Request. If you permissioned your one of your Plaxo card as public (similar to how FOAF works), and configured Plaxo to turn off alert notifications, that would be it. Plaxo would handle requests sent to you, and automatically update those people who wished to stay in touch with you.
   And you don't have to feel like you have to send out Update Requests to your contacts. Obviously this is the primary methods members use to stay updated with contacts who may not be Plaxo members. But members always have control over sending Update Request messages. They control when they wish to send an Update Request, to whom they wish to send these messages to, what information of their own they include within the message, as well as the text of personalized message included within the Update Request.
   Thanks for allowing me to comment. Please continue to let me know if there are any further issues or questions.
   Stacy Martin
   Plaxo Privacy Officer
   privacy @t plaxo.com

9. (name not saved), September 12, 2004

   "but if you were to become a Plaxo member, you could automatically update those people with your contact information and never have to receive an Update Request"
   I can't even believe you wrote this. Are you in the Mob? So, Mr. Soprano, if I pay you for protection, do you promise not to break my windows?

10. (name not saved), September 12, 2004

    I agree that part of the response may be a bit self-serving, but this is certainly not my intention. I believe I previously noted a number of options including the opt-out functionality we provide. But in an effort to be complete, it is also worth mentioning this as also an option that achieves what Ross was looking for.

11. (name not saved), September 13, 2004

    You need to stop drinking the company Koolaid for a couple of weeks until your head clears. Telling Ross to give into the pressure and just sign up is more than a bit self serving. I know you do not consider what you do spam, but I can assure you that a large percentage of your marketing recipients do. Using your customers as mules for your spam just makes what you do less palatable. Stop sending email to people that have not asked for it.

12. (name not saved), September 25, 2004

    I find Plaxo to be an annoyance. Check out Eliyon:
    http://scottmace.typepad.com/service_provider_blog/2004/09/eliyon_the_ulti.html