aubreyturner.org

No, it’s not an un-day (would that be night?), but United Nations day today.  In celebration I’m going to go to the range and shoot holes in paper targets.  Why?  Because owning guns is the right of all free people.  And it’ll piss off the UN supporters and bootlickers, who seem to hate individual freedom (and especially gun ownership).

Now where did I put those Kofi Annan targets….?

Once again, I am reminded why Lileks is the master.  From today’s bleat:

Could Sheriff Moose please, please say the following:

“As far as we know, the sniper has never jammed the gun barrel against the roof of his mouth and used his toes to pull the trigger. That’s his pattern, and we’ve no reason to think he will deviate from it.”

Perhaps the sniper would sneer at the TV, think: I’ll show you! and be halfway to the great raisin dispensary in the sky before he realized his error.

Priceless.

In response to my last post concerning my customer credo, someone calling himself “mark” left the following missive in my comments section.  As per my policy of not taking any crap, I think it calls for a detailed response.

Hm, ever think that the reason some companies ask for this very simple thing is to help you??  I know that in this “me first and only” world, people like to find fault with everything anyone does, but companies ask for zip codes for a special reason.

I’m perfectly aware of this.  However, it appears that you didn’t really read my post, other than to take offense after the first paragraph.  The zip code really isn’t my problem, it was just the final straw.  You may think of this as a “me first and only” thing, but I happen to value my personal privacy.  I’m not suggesting that “there ought to be a law.”  I’m just not going to participate anymore.  This is a perfectly valid free-market activity.  If the market agrees with me, then the customer profiling and surveys will go away.  If it doesn’t, then they will continue.

One is to find if there may be a valid reason to locate in the zip that you provide.  second, much advertising can be zip code specific, so by knowing the customer base zip code, advertizing (sic) can be sent there.

Many retailers are now asking for phone numbers, names, and addresses.  Given my background in the IT industry I am perhaps more sensitive to these issues because I know just how easy it is for companies to build a detailed dossier about you using information gleaned from a number of sources (although a zip code can’t be used to identify you personally).  Maybe I can’t stop them from doing this, but I can also choose not to participate or to make it easier for them.  If they want my personal data, then they’d damn sure better make the value returned worth it.  That may sound mercenary and “me first” to you, but it is simple economics.  There’s nothing wrong with demanding value in return for something of value that you’ve given, and your personal data is definitely valuable to them.

If you think that your privacy is worth the alleged benefits of giving up this information, then by all means, give ‘em everything they want.  But just because you may value it this way doesn’t mean that I do.  By the way, did you stop to consider that maybe I don’t want to be targeted by advertising?

Personally, can’t see what you are whining about…  too many whiners in the world today..  if it bothers you so much that you have to whine about it on the internet, you must not have much of a life to start with.

This is my website.  I paid for it and I can say or do anything I like on it.  However, I find it interesting that this bothers you so much that you have to whine about it on my website (using my electrons, dammit ).  What does that say about you?  If you’re concerned about whiners, maybe you should start by looking closer to home.

Update:I just got a comment about this post, complaining about the profanity.  It was something that I thought about a bit before posting, and though I’d originally decided to keep it, I’ve rethought that position.  It’s not really in keeping with my normal personality.  I’m not the kind of person who yells profanity at others, no matter what the level of provocation.  It’s not good to start now, even here, because that opens the gates for further breaches of propriety. 

One of the things that I tried to take to heart from my CHL training was to avoid being the antagonist and trying to remain calm in the face of provocation.  I will abide by that.  The inflammatory remarks have been removed.  Not so much because the commenter was put off by them, but because they aren’t really me.

This weekend I went into the OfficeMax here in Denton to purchase some blank CD-Rs and some jewel cases.  Normally I wouldn’t buy those items there, but it was Saturday afternoon and I decided to skip the joy that is Wal-Mart at that time of day on the weekend.  The sales clerk asked me if the purchase was for business or personal use and for my ZIP code.  Maybe I was tired, having just come back from fighting the crowds in Lewisville.  Whatever it was, these questions pushed me past my limit.  I asked her why she needed this info and she said it was for a survey.  I told her that I wasn’t going to participate.

Update 10/17/02:I’ve had two snarky, smart-ass comments about this now from people who for some reason are offended that I wouldn’t give up my ZIP code.  I want to make it clear that the ZIP code is not the real issue here.  It just happened to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.  My real problem is with surveys and demands for my personally identifying information by retailers.  Further comments about ZIP codes will be ignored.

With that I’ve decided that I’ve finally had enough.  I will no longer be treated as a consumer, as a number, as some member of a demographic.  I’ve had enough of pushy marketing.  Bitching about the problem does nothing other than generate hot air so I’ve decided to take action.

Here is my new customer credo.

• I am not a consumer.  I am not some automata that will respond to certain input by emitting payment and consuming products.  I am not a yawning maw of rapacious need to be filled by consumption of products.  I am a customer with unique requirements and desires and I demand to be treated as such.  I am resistant to standard marketing techniques and I recognize when they’re being applied to me.  These techniques will guarantee that I do not return to your place of business ever again.
• I will no longer be surveyed and I will not give out my personally identifying information unless there is a valid reason to do so, like obtaining some kind of service or having something delivered.  I will not assist you in gathering information about me that will be used to generate more marketing.  I’m fed up with spam, with junk mail, and with obnoxious telemarketers.  If I’m at your store purchasing something be glad that I’ve chosen to spend my money there.  If you make the check-out process too difficult by demanding that I answer survey questions or give you personal information to build a profile on me, I may go somewhere else next time.  If you can’t complete the check-out process without this information, I will cancel the sale and go elsewhere.
• I will not do business with any store that demands or uses a loyalty card, preferred member card, or other customer tracking scheme.  These things don’t actually save me money, but they give you valuable information about my buying habits.  I refuse to pay more and get less in return.
• My home telephone belongs to me and is used for my personal business.  I do not want nor will I accept any form of telemarketing or solicitation (no matter how worthy the cause).  I will not do business with any company that calls me on the phone and I will not donate to any charity that does so, regardless of our past relationship.  Because of the abuses by telemarketers, I will no longer give out my phone number to anyone I don’t know personally.  If you call me with a computerized recording or call me with an automated outcalling system that asks me to “please wait”, I will ridicule your company and product and recommend that all of my friends avoid you (go to hell, Dish Network—I’m glad you didn’t get the chance to screw up DirecTV).
• My email address is for use as I see fit.  I will not do business with anyone who sends me unsolicited email.  Ever!  Opt-out is not a viable option.  Remember that from your end there is only one of you and it is easy for you to remove me from your records.  From my end there are thousands of you, making a logistical nightmare for me to get myself off of all those lists.  Further, unscrupulous emailers have made it impossible for me to trust that you will actually remove me from your list.  Many times responding to spam simply guarantees that I will get more.  I will not give you my email address unless it is required for an online business transaction.  If I do give you my email address, that does not give you permission to send me advertisements or other “specials.”  Further, opting into a certain kind of mailing does not give you permission to sell this list for other purposes.
• Sending me a fake bill for a magazine in the hopes that I will pay it and subscribe to the magazine is fraud.  I will not buy your magazine and I will not forget that you did this.  Your magazine (and anything else published by your company) is now dead to me.
• I don’t want your “super special” 90 day free introductory offer.  I know you’re hoping I’ll forget about it in 90 days so you can charge my credit card.  I’m not stupid and being subjected to this kind of offer insults my intelligence.  If your product was that great and I actually needed it I’d buy it regardless of the introductory offer.
• I am not going to buy any more extended warranties or maintenance agreements after being lied to by salespeople about what is covered (Sears) (I know, caveat emptor, they got me on this one).  But I may lie to you and say that I am so that you won’t lie to me that you’re out of stock on what I came to purchase (Best Buy) (unless there’s another supplier nearby).
• I will no longer put up with surly sales clerks and smart-ass PFY’s (Circuit City).  If you can’t motivate your sales staff to have a minimum of respect for the customer then I can’t be bothered to shop there.

To sum it all up: If a business treats me with respect and as if I have some intelligence, I will come back.  If a business treats me as a consumer or as a market demographic, I won’t be back.

The next time some politician says that he or she just wants “sensible” gun laws, remember that he really means “I just can’t say publicly what we want to do — we have to take these things slowly.”

Found via Instapundit.

Either I’m more sensitive to the topic right now, or it’s on everybody’s mind.  On Slashdot today I came across this article from the 7th in the Your Rights Online section.

myciti.com is requiring users to agree to an interesting set of terms and conditions before using the service.  Here’s the interesting part:

My Citi User Agreement … Please read the My Citi User Agreement carefully – it includes disclaimers of liability and other matters of interest to you…

4. Marketing.

By selecting “I Agree” below, you acknowledge and agree that: (1) we may display advertisements and promotions of all kinds on our web site(s) and you agree not to disable any technology required or utilized to serve or display such advertising; and (2) you confirm the decision you made during the My Citi registration about whether or not to subscribe to receive marketing messages via e-mail from Citibank. In each case, such advertisements may be customized based upon information you may have provided us or upon information concerning the accounts and services that you access or use via our web site(s) in order to tailor them to your personal interests

Now since this is a voluntary agreement, and you don’t have to use the service if you don’t like it, I suppose that it’s OK.  However, that doesn’t mean that I have to like it.  I also suspect that this kind of thing won’t sit well with many people, especially those who are just sick and tired of in-your-face advertisting.

However it should be noted that this service is for people who are already customers of Citibank.  Why do they feel the need to force-feed advertising to these people?  Shouldn’t they treat their customers better than this?  This clause gives me the feeling that they regard me as a thief of some sort.

Finally, it must be noted that the text of this agreement is not available until you’ve entered your personally identifying information.  There are no links to this information before you’ve gone this far.

P.S.  They also forgot to turn off the edit capability for the text area where this text is kept.  I wonder what would happen if you changed it…

The full text of the agreement is below (click ‘MORE…’).

THIS AGREEMENT CONTAINS IMPORTANT PROVISIONS REQUIRING YOUR CONSENT TO RECEIVE NOTICES AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE SERVICE ELECTRONICALLY. YOU AGREE TO RECEIVE INFORMATION REGARDING THE SERVICE ELECTRONICALLY. YOU MUST HAVE THE ABILITY TO RECEIVE AND RETAIN ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS BEFORE YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS. BY CLICKING THE “I AGREE” BUTTON BELOW YOU AGREE ELECTRONICALLY TO THESE TERMS. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SERVICE TO YOU BY NON-ELECTRONIC MEANS.

1. Acceptance of Terms.

IN THIS AGREEMENT, My Citi is the online service provided by Citibank (“Service”, “We”, “Us”) that helps you manage your finances by bringing you current financial information and news, giving you access to your accounts at Citibank and its affiliated companies, and providing free online account aggregation through the My Accounts feature, all through a customizable home page. These terms set forth the terms and conditions under which the Service is made available to you, the person who registers for the Service. It is important that you understand both the benefits and limitations of the Service.

My Accounts is the optional online account aggregation feature of My Citi and is provided pursuant to terms and conditions that are presented separately at the time of My Accounts enrollment.

When you register for the Service and click on the “I Agree” button below, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree to all of these terms, click on the “I Disagree” button below. In order to use the Service and to view and retain a copy of these terms, you must have available a computer equipped with at least 128-bit JavaScript enabled browser and either a printer, drive or other storage device. Your browser must be configured to accept electronic “cookies”. These terms may be updated from time to time. At least fifteen days prior to any material change, we will notify you by e-mail, at the public e-mail address you have provided, of the new or different terms and conditions or provide you an e-mail link to such new or different terms and conditions on our Web site. Any such notice will be deemed received when made available to you at the address you have provided. If you continue to use the Service after the effective date of such notice, your continued use of the Service constitutes acceptance of the changes and an agreement to be bound by these terms, as amended. If you do not agree to the changes, you agree to discontinue your use of the Service. You can review the most current version of these terms at any time at myciti.com. For the purposes of this Agreement, “Citibank” means: (a) if you have a Citibank deposit account, the bank which maintains your account; or (b) if you do not have a Citibank deposit account – Citibank, N.A if you live in downstate New York State; Citibank (New York State) if you live in upstate New York State; Citibank (Nevada) N.A. if you live in Nevada; or Citibank, FSB in all other cases.

2. The Service.

After you have registered for the Service and accepted these terms you may link your My Citi account to your Citibank® Banking Card and access information about and effect transactions in the accounts you have linked to your Citibank Banking Card and to certain other Citi accounts. You may also use the tools available on the Web sites. You may also subscribe to receive promotional materials, information and advice concerning Citi products and services via e-mail. You may elect to discontinue receiving such materials at any time.

3. Tools and Content.

The citi.com planners, educational tools and content we provide on this Web site are for information purposes only and are not intended to provide investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice, nor are they intended to indicate the availability or applicability of any Citigroup company, product or service to your unique circumstances. All examples are hypothetical and for illustrative purposes. Although we have obtained content from sources deemed to be reliable, Citigroup and its affiliates are not responsible for any content provided by unaffiliated third parties. You may wish to consult an appropriate advisor about your unique situation.

4. Marketing.

By selecting “I Agree” below, you acknowledge and agree that: (1) we may display advertisements and promotions of all kinds on our web site(s) and you agree not to disable any technology required or utilized to serve or display such advertising; and (2) you confirm the decision you made during the My Citi registration about whether or not to subscribe to receive marketing messages via e-mail from Citibank. In each case, such advertisements may be customized based upon information you may have provided us or upon information concerning the accounts and services that you access or use via our web site(s) in order to tailor them to your personal interests.

5. Privacy.

Citibank, as a member of Citigroup, respects your privacy. The complete terms of the Citigroup Privacy Policy are incorporated into and made part of this agreement. You can view the Citigroup Privacy Policy at http://www.citi.com.

6. Service Limitations.

We will try very hard to make your experience with us a productive one. However, we cannot always foresee or anticipate technical or other difficulties. These difficulties may result in loss of data, personalization settings or other service interruptions. We cannot assume responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery or failure to store any user data, communications or personalization settings.

7. Service Changes and Discontinuation.

We reserve the right to change or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Service at any time without notice. In order to maintain the security and integrity of the Service we may also suspend your access to the Service at any time without notice. You agree that we will not be liable to you or any third party for any modification or discontinuance of the Service.

8. Other.

These terms cannot be changed nor any of our rights waived unless we post a change in terms on this site and you accept them or you continue using the Service following receipt of notice of any changes proposed by us. This agreement is personal to you and you may not assign it to anyone. All notices to you shall be in writing via e-mail at the address you have provided us. Subject to Section 1 of this agreement, we may broadcast notices or messages through the Service to inform you of changes to the terms, the Service, or other matters of importance; such broadcasts shall constitute notice to you. If any provision of these terms is held to be unenforceable, then such provision shall be construed, as nearly as possible, to reflect the intentions of the parties with the other provisions remaining in full force and effect. If you have a Citibank deposit account you will also be subject to the terms of the Citibank Online User Agreement.

By clicking the “I AGREE” button below you confirm that:
(1) you have available the software and equipment required to view and retain this information,
(2) you agree to receive all information about the Service electronically and
(3) you agree to be bound by these Terms.
Because this service only operates electronically you will be unable to proceed if you don’t agree.

Stephen Green over at VodkaPundit has a few rules for online marketers.  It’s fortutious that he should post this now, given my mini-rant about Yahoo! yesterday. 

A couple of samples from his post:

I will close all pop-up, pop-under, pop-through, pop-side, and popcorn ads without reading them.

Flash ads will not be tolerated. (Hear me, OpinionJournal?)

It’s good to know that I’m not the only one who is getting fed up with this crap.

An Earth First! tree-sitter fell out of a tree and died in the Ramsey Gulch area about 20-miles south of San Jose, CA on Tuesday night.

I don’t think I need to comment further on this.

asparagirl commented on this first, but I just couldn’t believe what I saw.  Jason Rubenstein has been collecting idiotic political comments for a few weeks.

This one, though, just takes the cake:

“Dude, this whole shooting thing in Washington [D.C. area] is horrible. But I hope whoever is doing it is anti-Bush and keeps doing it as a protest until Bush steps down and we can have a real election!”

And people wonder why I bash leftists (I’m trying to wean myself from calling them liberals, which they most assuredly are not).  Maybe we’ll get lucky and this bastard will be the next victim.  Let’s see how he likes his little protest then.

Not me, at least not anymore.  I decided today that their service isn’t viable for me anymore.

The final straw was a Flash ad that was displayed this morning when I logged into my email account.  Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, as they’ve been using Flash ads for a while.  However this particular ad features sound, which came blasting out at me while I was in the office.  I occasionally check email through Yahoo while I’m at work and I don’t find this acceptable.

Online ads have become more and more intrusive lately, as people have become more resistant and as advertisers aren’t willing to spend as much for advertising.  Yahoo seems to be following the trend.  The first thing I noticed was the use of pop-unders, which started a few months ago.  I consider pop-unders to be obnoxious, but I was willing to put up with them (after all Yahoo Mail is supported by ads).  The next thing was Flash ads that moved across the whole page.  These were annoying, but fairly harmless.  Then they tried a Flash-based pop-up ad that obscured the mail controls—you had to clear the ad before getting to use the service.  That one didn’t seem to last long, though.

But the Flash ad wasn’t the primary reason.  It just got me motivated to take action.  I started getting really annoyed with them yesteday when I started getting spam mails from a “service” that they call “Yahoo! Delivers”, which is where they send you email advertisments from outside companies (they just act as the delivery agent).  I had opted out of this “service” yet I still received email from them.  I sent a complaint to their “Customer Care” department, but got back a form letter saying that I needed to route my request to the appropriate contact point (although they didn’t deign to tell me who that was) for faster service (right).  I looked through the links they provided but didn’t see any way to contact a person.  I’m not surprised by this, as their so-called help pages are designed to prevent you from actually contacting them.

Don’t get the impression from this that I expect to get something for nothing.  I was always aware that Yahoo was advertising supported.  Up until now the advantages of their service were such that I accepted the advertising (i.e. the value-for-value trade was equitable from my perspective).  Unfortunately, in failing to live up to their own privacy policy (i.e. sending me spam against my clearly expressed desires), they have lost my trust, which is also a factor in the relationship.  The loss of trust outweighs any gain on my part from using their services.  If I can’t trust them not to send me emails (despite a clearly indicated choice), why would I want to trust them with the info contained in the Yahoo! Wallet service?

This is unfortunate for them, because I would have been willing to pay for the convenience of web-based mail service without advertising (but they don’t offer this—their pay services are expanded mail storage and POP3 mail access).  They’re also going to be losing out in other ways because I will no longer do business with any company that requires a Yahoo! Wallet to complete a sale.  I will also avoid any transaction where it appears that Yahoo is getting any of my personal information.

After being with Yahoo since 4/5/2000, I feel like I’ve been betrayed in a way.  Yahoo wasn’t like this when I started.  But then, I guess nothing ever stays the same.  Oh well, I can always set up web access to email on my own site (it’s included in my hosting plan).