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Re: OT: Vendors Using NANOG for a Sales Channel

  • From: Bill Nash
  • Date: Fri Oct 26 16:35:24 2007 
On Fri, 26 Oct 2007, Scott Weeks wrote:

> I would suggest that no one should buy from vendors who get email 
> addresses from NANOG or other technical mailing lists.  It will only 
> encourage them to do it more and ruin the value of the mailing list in 
> question.
> 
> You obviously haven't had the experiences that some have had with sales 
> folks that use this method.  Some are like the little Chihuahua that 
> won't quit trying to hump your leg.  No matter how many times you tell 
> them you're not going to "do it" they keep trying.
> 
> However, the company in this case did redeem themselves and I respect a company like that.

Which is to say, they were one of the few that apologised. The recurring 
theme is that it's always a rogue salesperson who didn't know better, or 
some overzealous marketing person. I'd agree with Scott on this point, 
that you shouldn't buy from vendors who do this, but ultimately, it's not 
going to change the way they behave. Over the course of my entire career, 
I've never been a fan of salespeople, because they do what they're 
supposed to do: whatever they can to make money. In our particular field, 
it cuts both ways, because they're either hassling you to buy something, 
or your own salespeople are selling something you can't support or don't 
even offer.

It's the kind of thing that probably won't change until someone whips out 
one of the spam laws and sues a couple people over it, or engages in 
executive carpet bombing. Either way, it's always going to be a temporary 
reprieve until it gets out of hand again. It'd be churlish of NANOG, as an 
organization, to organize blacklists and boycotts, and probably even 
shooting itself in the foot because some vendors may actually be offering 
something worthwhile, but is there any other real solution?

How often do people take the time to ask any given salescritter how they 
came by contact info?

- billn