Amember of the Podcamp Philly community decided to scrape emails off the registration list, trying to solicit business. I understand this is a temptation to many. In case it is not entirely clear to everyone let me say ths loud and clear:
The Registration list is public so that the community may register and contact each other to connect- one on one, personally. It is not there to create a spam list for your business. It is not there to save you the trouble of actually coming and meeting people in person. And if you choose to solicit business this way, it has the tendancy to backfireand cause really embarrassing reprecussions for everyone.
I have spoken to the person, and learned only part of our registration list recieved these “spam” or perhaps “bacn” emails. They are stopping such practice immediately. I am resisting the urge to “out” the person in public because we all deserve a second chance.
Besides the fact, had someone wanted to make a “special offer” to the community, a quick email or simply asking rather than doing might have prevented any potential problem in the first place.
If anyone gets any such email from any party and suspects it is coming because of the public wiki list, I urge you to contact me at ldpodcast@gmail.com so I can deal with the situation quickly. And be forewarned, future blog posts about such violations of the community and public trust will have much more public and candid responses.
This community is founded upon trust. I view violations of that trust as serious matters. I have placed my reputation on the line when asking people to divulge contact information for the purposes of Podcamp, and I view others taking advantage of this trust for personal gain as inappropriate.
Thank you.