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Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 17 June 2002

Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.

 

From: Iain J
For : Right Of Reply (for publication)
Subj: Greens

Admittedly the email scheme they have is ignorant of the
most basic standards for mass emailing, but is this enough
to change your vote?

When people get up in arms over anything the Greens do, say
or attempt to influence I always remember what Jeanette
Fitzimons said...

"We don't want to be in parliament, but we're made to, we
have to, there are key issues that just aren't been
addressed"

So although they are not all wise and wonderful, she's got
a point. They may not be the most professional politically
outfit, but they're the most honest and sincere of the lot.

I abhore spam, hate it.. but give the guys a chance,
they're in Parliament making a difference. The image of a
clean green country may be stastically correct, but our
track record, future track records and standard processes
are pretty wayward.




From: Sam
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Xtra

Great to see Aardvark back! Thanx lots to the new sponsor.
It seems there have been major outages with Jet Stream etc
today such that calls to the Help Desk are unanswered by a
live person for over 15mins(I twice gave up after no
response) due to 'heavy demand'
The 1st voice response says there are problems for those
with static IP addresses which are being rectified(uh-
huh...); an attempt to obtain some ballpark repair time is
near impossible, although the 2nd recorded response
suggests 'Look at our web site(!!)'
Should we have a backup dialup account for this
purpose..??? Perhaps a different ISP to reduce potential
problems?
Nice work Telecom ;-)




From: Lynne Serpe
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: www. votegreen.org.nz

Dear Aardvark editorial,

I am writing to clarify some of the statements made in your
article posted 17 June 2002 regarding the soon-to-be-
launched www.votegreen.org.nz web site. You
published, “Apparently, visitors to the site will be able
to type up an email and automatically have it distributed
to the editor of goodness knows how many publications all
around the country.”

That is just not correct. Visitors will have the
opportunity to select the recipients of their email in a
pull-down menu. It will NOT be automatically distributed to
everyone on the list. Visitors will have to make a
conscious choice about each and every recipient.

I find it fascinating that an entire article was written
about something we are ‘about to do’ or that
will ‘apparently’ be in place. I am disappointed that you
didn’t take the time to call (or email) and ask further
questions and to hear how we were planning on explaining to
visitors the best use of the Letter to the Editor function.
The following is an excerpt of that explanation:

“Keep in mind that many people will have missed the
original article that prompted you to write and remember:
you don't have to write only in anger. If you liked one of
their stories, email a letter of thanks and appreciation.

TIP: IT GREATLY ENHANCES YOUR CHANCE OF BEING PUBLISHED IF
YOU ONLY WRITE TO ONE PUBLICATION.

In addition, many publishers like to know to whom else you
have sent your letter.”

I feel that I have to address your comments about the
definition of spamming. The fact that Green MPs get paid a
salary does not make the ‘letter to the editor’ function
commercial.

I disagree with your statement that editors do not solicit
letters of comment. As you are most likely aware, the email
addresses of editors are publicly available on the web and
they do solicit letters. By so doing, they have ‘opted in’
to receiving correspondence. In addition, our site is set
up so that people will have to write their own letters; we
are not proving form letters for them.

And, finally, I disagree with your statement that we are
insulting people by providing them with a service to make
it easier for them to voice their concerns (or approval) to
the media.

Lynne Serpe




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