Opting out of Plaxo
Grok Headline matches for Opting out of Plaxo
Opting Out Is Hard To Do
Opting Out Is Hard To Do
04/28/2004 09:45 PMWhile we all know not to "opt-out" of spam is likely to guarantee you
more spam, what about opting out of the more "legitimate" spam
messages you get from well-known companies? PCWorld has a story
about the efforts needed
to
opt-out of an email list from Sony: multiple clicking of the
"opt-out" link didn't do the trick, nor did a series of phone calls
and emails over the course of four weeks. Each seemed to only lead to
directions to call a different number - none of which did anything to
help the guy opt-out. This is, of course, illegal under CAN SPAM, but
it's not like anyone actually pays attention to that law anyway. In
fact, other studies have shown the same thing. Even with Fortune 500
companies, the opt-out link often does nothing. I've seen this
personally in my own email, and found that phone calls are the only
way to get off some lists. Following the Sony example, the writer of
the article set up a test email account and subscribed to a bunch of
lists - only to discover that many do not follow opt-out requests. Of
course, when asked, all claim technical difficulties. Sony, however,
claims that the reason he wasn't opted out was because he didn't
follow all of the instructions
after clicking the opt out link.
Those instructions include filling in a form with the email address,
clicking submit, and
then filling out a five question survey
about why he was opting out and hitting submit
again. Isn't it
nice that companies that don't even believe in double opt-in, seem to
have no problem with triple opt-out?
Opting Out in the Debate on Evolution
Opting Out in the Debate on Evolution
06/22/2005 02:10 AMMainstream scientists, even those who have long urged researchers to
speak with a louder voice, stayed away from recent hearings at the
Kansas State Board of Education.
Fighting spam: Opting out is in
Fighting spam: Opting out is in
06/23/2004 01:13 AMStraits Times Jun 23 2004 5:26AM GMT
Should opting in mean we sacrifice our
privacy?
Should opting in mean we sacrifice our
privacy?
05/12/2004 08:09 PMnewmediazero May 13 2004 0:06AM GMT
opting out of the warbl0g community
opting out of the warbl0g community
04/15/2004 11:47 PMi've found it's a good way to take care of one's mental health. best
of luck.
Meet Me On The Darknet - Opting Out Of
Controlled Computing Environments
Meet Me On The Darknet - Opting Out Of
Controlled Computing Environments
01/29/2004 02:49 AMThere's been plenty of talk about the threats of "big government" or
"big corporations" to control how people use the internet and
technology. Paul Boutin points out, however, that we shouldn't assume
that people will be willing to just sit there and take it. Already,
we see this with file sharing. The more the RIAA cracks down, the
further people move over to more underground options. As Boutin sees
it, the more anyone tries to control the internet, the
more people will move over to
so-called "darknets" - which, he admits, sounds like a lot more
fun anyway.
Plaxo - NOT
Plaxo - NOT
04/10/2004 04:45 PMMo'
Plaxo?.
As a followup to my entry
earlier this week about opting out of Plaxo, Stacy Martin from Plaxo commented "Thanks for using the
Service. We've offered the Opt-out capabilities for about 6 months
now..."
Umm. Stacy. One thing.
I never used Plaxo. I never used the service. I didn't
appreciate the unsolicited mail and I never wanted to share anything.
I never should have been forced into Plaxo in the first place and
Plaxo shouldn't be trying to lever my personal information into a
business model.
I never should have had to opt-out in the first place!!
And remember folks - friends don't force friends to use Plaxo,
friends use Friends<
/A>.
If you want my contact info, <A href="javascript:openWindow(http://www
.byte.org/blog/cmd=view_user/username=ross, 'info', 450,
600);">click here instead. If you need more contact deets, become
my friend ;)
[Random Bytes]
You go Ross - tell um like it is. That guy left comments for
me too. They're using they're $20M of VC money for something at
least!
How to Opt Out of Plaxo
How to Opt Out of Plaxo
04/09/2004 04:00 PMI hope, having gone to
this
opt-out page on the Plaxo site, I'll never, ever be subjected to
another one of those annoying update-your-contact-info requests.
Opt out of Plaxo emails
Opt out of Plaxo emails
04/09/2004 04:11 PMWow! Somebody's listening.
How to opt-out of Plaxo emails. Dan
Gillmor points to this page on the Plaxo website, where you can
permanently opt out receiving "Hey, I'm updating my contact
information..." emails from the service. Link [Boing Boing]
More Hype For Plaxo
More Hype For Plaxo
06/15/2004 03:32 AMYou can always tell when a lazy PR person has been given the job to
hype up some random startup in Silicon Valley. That's when the
"profile" piece comes out, focusing almost entirely on the 22-year-old
founder of a company, rather than the company itself or what it does.
It looks like that's the latest strategy to hype up Plaxo, with a
story that focuses on
its young co-founders and the similarities the company has
to Yahoo and Google - namely founded by two Stanford students and
funded by Michael Moritz. Of course, the article leaves out the
differences - such as the fact that a fair number of folks find
Plaxo's service both
annoyin
g and
creepy<
/a> - and they're still searchi
ng for a business model. It also leaves out the fact that one of
Plaxo's founders was recently forced out of the company, suggesting
that not all is well at Plaxo central. I still fail to see how Plaxo
is any more than a small feature of an email system - and the only
thing I learned from this article is that the company likes to compare
itself to multi-billion dollar companies that actually do have
business models.
Feeling lucky? Google remains
unorthodox, opting to sell its shares
online
Feeling lucky? Google remains
unorthodox, opting to sell its shares
online
04/29/2004 05:36 PMBBC Apr 29 2004 9:34PM GMT
Yahoo Invests in Plaxo
Yahoo Invests in Plaxo
05/24/2004 03:48 PM"Plaxo integrates Yahoo's search engine directly into the Outlook
e-mail program. Under the deal with Yahoo, Plaxo will get paid for
channeling people to Yahoo's search engine."
Congrats to Mark Jen, now at Plaxo
Congrats to Mark Jen, now at Plaxo
03/14/2005 05:02 PMIt looks like Mark found himself a new job (Plaxo) after a whirlwind
of media attention and job interviews. Congrats, Mark. Lemme know if
you want to drop by Yahoo for lunch again sometime....
Apparently, I joined Plaxo.
Apparently, I joined Plaxo.
06/29/2004 10:23 AM I received a surprise email from Plaxo today, updating me on the
status of my account. I'd forgotten I'd once joined, in the spirit of
adventure. So, I went to the Plaxo site where they've prominently
posted reassuring information about their privacy policy. I found
where I can opt out of receiving update requests, although it results
in the following almost-funny error message: The e-mail address you
are trying to opt-out from (self@evident.com) has already been claimed
by another user (possibly you). You will not be able to opt-out at
this time. (A search of their knowledge base turns...
Plaxo Does Have A Business Model... But
Not Really
Plaxo Does Have A Business Model... But
Not Really
05/24/2004 03:05 AMI'll admit that I have
not
been kind to Plaxo in the past. Ever since the service was first
announced, it sounded like a bubble era pointless dot com. There was
a lot of hype about the young founder (previously founded Napster!)
and the "service" itself didn't seem like much of a product. At most,
it was a feature of a larger product, and that larger product might
just turn out to be something like Microsoft Outlook. If the system
was remotely useful, you would think that Microsoft would just build
it in to Outlook. However, it didn't even seem that useful. If
anything, I expected it to be annoying - and has it ever been
annoying. I now block all Plaxo requests, but for a while, the amount
of Plaxo spam was ridiculous. Then, of course, there's the privacy
question. While Plaxo now goes to great lengths to swear up and down
that they keep your info private, they don't seem to understand the
real privacy complaint: when your friends give
your address to
some 3rd party service,
are
they violating your privacy? It's a question that's not entirely
clear. In the meantime, this was all made worse by the fact that
Plaxo still didn't have anything remotely resembling a business model
(shades of the bubble era again...). Well, now they claim they've
solved that issue, and have announced that their business model is a
$20/year paid version for which
you'll get such great features as... well, they actually don't seem to
know yet. You will get better
customer support though. It
always worries me when companies decide that better customer support
is a premium "feature," because they've just set up the incentives to
mean that they give the absolute worst customer support to anyone not
in that tier. This doesn't seem particularly compelling. They're
basically saying their new business model is that they'll annoy me
less if I pay? No thanks...
Plaxo Business Model
Plaxo Business Model
05/24/2004 12:50 PMPlaxo is out trying to explain they have a business model and are
addressing privacy concerns. A premium service at $20/month that
includes support and, well, what else they are not saying or don't
know yet. Techdirt: They're basically saying...
plaxo wants to support FOAF
plaxo wants to support FOAF
02/19/2004 02:55 AMand needs to know how to make it work. clue them in.
Sean Parker kicked out of Plaxo
Sean Parker kicked out of Plaxo
04/21/2004 03:26 AMAlthough I had some problems with the Plaxo model, I hate hearing stories
like this. Sean Parker, the founder and visionary behind Plaxo was
kicked out rather rudely by the VCs. I don't know the details, but it
sounds bad.
The company sent out an anonymous, terse
statement that Parker is ``no longer with Plaxo,'' but called him a
``visionary, creative entrepreneur'' and ended with: ``We thank him
for his hard work and wish him well.''
In reality, though, a source said Parker has been locked out, and
everyone at the company has been instructed not to talk with Parker,
except by way of the company's lawyer, Ray Hickson.
When contacted and asked whether this arrangement is ``normal,''
Hickson said: ``I can't discuss a client personnel matter with
newspaper reporters.''
Parker himself issued a terse statement: ``While the company is
moving to a new stage of its growth, the management team remains
committed to executing my original vision,'' he said. ``The company
remains in capable hands.''
I've founded several companies
and as companies grow, the skills required to be the chief executive
change. When I've founded (or helped found) companies in the past,
I've usually stepped aside to allow someone with better administrative
and sales skills to lead the company after it's up and running. This
was the case with
Digital
Garage and PSINet Japan and to a certain extent Infoseek Japan. I
seem to be the most useful getting things going, not running them.
As a VC/investor, I've seen my share of visionary CEOs who can't
run the company, but we usually try to keep them involved in some way
and stay on good terms so we can invest in their next good company. I
don't see how you can continue being a VC in the valley being cruel to
serial entrepreneurs.
Pierre Omidyar of eBay is probably one of the best examples of
knowing when to bring on a real CEO, but staying involved as the
founder. I think he and his investors were smart about this.
Ja
son Calacanis blogs about this on thesocialsoftwareweblog
Do You Violate Your Friends' Privacy By
Using Plaxo?
Do You Violate Your Friends' Privacy By
Using Plaxo?
03/06/2004 02:05 AMIt appears that others are beginning to pick up on one of the
fundamental problems with services like Plaxo that we've
been
discussing here recently. With all the focus these days on making
sure corporations protect your personal info, why are people so quick
to sign up with services like Plaxo and hand over all of the private
info of friends, co-workers and acquaintances? In fact, this reporter
is wondering if
Plaxo is violating
new data privacy laws in Europe. When I give out my private
contact info to you, does that mean it's okay for you to give that to
a private company? While most people are concerned about companies
giving away our data, why are we okay with our friends doing the same
thing?
Start-up Plaxo sketches out business
plan
Start-up Plaxo sketches out business
plan
05/24/2004 12:03 AMGreenlight Wireless signs deal with
Plaxo, Inc.
Greenlight Wireless signs deal with
Plaxo, Inc.
09/16/2004 03:28 AMDevelopment is underway to "Plaxo-enable" the award-winning Skweezer
service, providing access to the fastest-growing contact management
software and network. [PRWEB Sep 16, 2004]
Plaxo, Yahoo make deal on search
Plaxo, Yahoo make deal on search
05/24/2004 10:38 AMSan Jose Mercury News May 24 2004 2:30PM GMT
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Opting out of Plaxo
