Should AAC send out birthday e-mails?

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WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
The other forum I've been a long-time member of e-mails each member a Happy Birthday each year. It's completely vanilla and automated, so no pretense that it is personal (although it is personalized in the way of most form letters).

Some would say that adds at least a bit of additional flavor of a community while others would say that it adds one more piece of junk mail.

But it also reminds people that have gone dormant that we are still here and, with as many dormant members that we have, if even 0.1% of them checked in that would be about one a day coming back and maybe getting active.
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
Your first paragraph sums it up pretty well. Non-personal, completely automated are two criteria of spam. The fact that you are advertising to members who don't post frequently enough for AAC's tastes completes that circle. How often does a member have to post to not be "dormant?" Who should our heirs and assigns send the death notices to?

Please don't send meaningless e-mails! But, perhaps you could make a new Obituary forum to keep track of dormant members.

John
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Definitely, "No".
If you start sending me that kind of self-serving spam I will change my AAC registered email address to a false one.
I consider the fact that AAC even has my real address as a concession.
Then again, you don't know my birthday.:D
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,234
Only if the email reminds me how critical I am to the foundation and long-term survival of AAC, and that if I don't participate, the walls will crumble and the building will come down crashing on my head.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
There are any number of ways for a person or group to express their kindly regard for me. Reminding me that I'm aging doesn't seem to be a good one.
Even if it comes as the warm regards of a computer server running an extremely recent copy of XenForo?
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
The personal information provided to AAC during registration should not be made public without the specific permission of the person(s) affected. It should be "opt in" rather than "opt out." Birthday is one item that is used in identity theft.

What purpose is served by doing it? Why do you apparently want to do it? What calendar will you use? Will your selection of calendar be offensive to some?

It is an idea best dropped. If someone wants to announce their B'day, they can easily do it in a post here or on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

John
 

panic mode

Joined Oct 10, 2011
2,715
why is anything not-circuit related welcome at all? except for jokes thread of course....
every single post that does not contribute in the spirit of name "all about circuits" is a spam to me - including this reply ;-)
 

Thread Starter

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
why is anything not-circuit related welcome at all? except for jokes thread of course....
every single post that does not contribute in the spirit of name "all about circuits" is a spam to me - including this reply ;-)
Think about your first line. You are saying that nothing that isn't circuit related should be welcome, except of course for those non-circuit related things of which YOU approve.
 

Thread Starter

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
The personal information provided to AAC during registration should not be made public without the specific permission of the person(s) affected.
Huh? How is sending an e-mail to the person whose birthday it is making their personal information public?

You don't seem to have any problem with publicly announcing members whose birthday it is on the Members tab, which has been doing that since well before I ever joined.

It should be "opt in" rather than "opt out." Birthday is one item that is used in identity theft.
I would have no problem with that, though I still don't see how an e-mail sent to the person whose birthday it is invited identity theft to any greater degree than any other e-mails the person receives, such as birthday well wishes from their mother.

What purpose is served by doing it?
I explained the purpose in the original post. Perhaps you might read it.

Why do you apparently want to do it?
I don't "apparently" want to do it. I didn't even suggest that we do do it, did I? I threw it out as an idea (understand the notion of "an idea"?) of something that we might consider doing to see what people felt about it. The reaction is overwhelmingly against it. That's fine. I therefore have no intention of suggesting we do it and, if someone else were to suggest it I would have a basis upon which to say that, at least among those that had a strong enough opinion to respond, the idea is heavily frowned upon.

What, pray tell, is so bad about that?

People piss and moan when the mod staff does something without consulting you, yet when we ask for input this is the kind of reaction we get (and I'm not talking about the responses, including your initial one, that just provide feedback regarding an idea).

What calendar will you use? Will your selection of calendar be offensive to some?
What kind of tripe is that? The calendar that would be used is the calendar used by the forum and the date would be the birthday provided by the member (if they provided one, which they don't have to). If someone's going to be offended by the birthday they provide, then they have bigger issues to deal with. Or are you just trying to step up on the PC, everyone's-a-victim, must-be-sensitive-to-every-little-thing bandwagon because you think doing so will shut down the conversation (a conversation that, you might take a moment to note, your side had already won in a landslide).

It is an idea best dropped. If someone wants to announce their B'day, they can easily do it in a post here or on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Then why didn't you let it drop?
 
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jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
@WBahn
Obviously, you hold dearly to your idea of a meaningless, computer-generated acknowledgement of someones birthday. I won't waste time responding sentence by sentence to your typical response to any disagreement.

I will point out two things. First, here are my privacy settings. They have been that way for a long time, and I expect them to be respected. Do not post any other personally identifiable information about me on this site.
upload_2016-3-24_0-13-40.png

Second, you are the originator of this thread. If that wasn't a suggestion, then what was it? I don't intend to play silly word games with you.

John
 
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