Death to Plaxo
by Bret Fausett at 11:39AM (PST) on March 23, 2004 | Permanent Link | Cosmos
Whoa. In the current PC Forum session, Tim Koogle of Plaxo is taking a beating over lack of transparency, privacy, and the intrusiveness of the frequent messages from the service. Here's why I dislike Plaxo. The first time I received a message from a friend asking me to update my contact information, I did it. A couple of days later, I received another message asking me to add the same information for another friend. I did that too. When the messages continued coming in, I just stopped. I'm happy to provide contact information directly to my friends. I just don't want (trust) an intermediary, and it's much easier to send my friends an e-mail with my current contact information in my sig file.
In the current PC Forum session, Tim Koogle of Plaxo is taking a beating over lack of transparency, privacy, and the intrusiveness of the frequent messages from the service. Here's why dislike Plaxo. The first time I received a message from a friend asking me to update my contact information, I did it. A couple of days later, I received another message asking me to add the same information for another friend. I did that too. When the messages continued coming in, I just stopped. I'm happy to provide contact information directly to my friends. I just don't want (trust) an intermediary, and it's much easier to send my friends an e-mail with my current contact information in my sig file.
Whoa. In the current PC Forum session, Tim Koogle of Plaxo is taking a beating over lack of transparency, privacy, and the intrusiveness of the frequent messages from the service. Here's why I dislike Plaxo. The first time I received a message from a friend asking me to update my contact information, I did it. A couple of days later, I received another message asking me to add the same information for another friend. I did that too. When the messages continued coming in, I just stopped. I'm happy to provide contact information directly to my friends. I just don't want (trust) an intermediary, and it's much easier to send my friends an e-mail with my current contact information in my sig file.
Re: Death to Plaxo
by Stacy Martin at 01:47PM (PST) on Mar 23, 2004 | Permanent Link
Bret,
I'm sure you're friends and associates appreciate the assistance you provided them when responding to their Update Requests. It's one thing for people to send out their contact information through email. But Plaxo provides the benefit of helping to manage this information and get it back into the person's address book with minimal manual intervention.
We'll be adding a feature in a upcoming release that should make responding to multiple Update Requests much easier for people who are not Plaxo members. I'd also like to mention a few of the features you may not realize are available to non-Plaxo members.
Auto-Reply account: you can create what's known as a auto-reply account with Plaxo. The information you provide in the auto-reply account will be used to respond automatically to Update Requests sent to you by Plaxo members. This way, you can still provide the information you wish to your friends and associates who are requesting an update, but it will be done automatically for you.
Opt-out from Update Requests: If you don't wish to receive any further Update Requests, we include in a link within the Update Request which allows you to stop receiving Update Requests from a single Plaxo member, or all Plaxo members.
Become a Plaxo member! - I'm not trying to sell you on anything, but Update Request are only necessary for communicating with non-Plaxo members. If you were a Plaxo member, the Plaxo Network could handle all updates between you and other Plaxo members automatically, without requiring any action on the part of the Plaxo members. Your address book could always be kept updated and accurate, based upon the information granted to you by other Plaxo members within your address book.
Hope this helps. Drop me a line if you have any further questions or comments.
I'm sure you're friends and associates appreciate the assistance you provided them when responding to their Update Requests. It's one thing for people to send out their contact information through email. But Plaxo provides the benefit of helping to manage this information and get it back into the person's address book with minimal manual intervention.
We'll be adding a feature in a upcoming release that should make responding to multiple Update Requests much easier for people who are not Plaxo members. I'd also like to mention a few of the features you may not realize are available to non-Plaxo members.
Auto-Reply account: you can create what's known as a auto-reply account with Plaxo. The information you provide in the auto-reply account will be used to respond automatically to Update Requests sent to you by Plaxo members. This way, you can still provide the information you wish to your friends and associates who are requesting an update, but it will be done automatically for you.
Opt-out from Update Requests: If you don't wish to receive any further Update Requests, we include in a link within the Update Request which allows you to stop receiving Update Requests from a single Plaxo member, or all Plaxo members.
Become a Plaxo member! - I'm not trying to sell you on anything, but Update Request are only necessary for communicating with non-Plaxo members. If you were a Plaxo member, the Plaxo Network could handle all updates between you and other Plaxo members automatically, without requiring any action on the part of the Plaxo members. Your address book could always be kept updated and accurate, based upon the information granted to you by other Plaxo members within your address book.
Hope this helps. Drop me a line if you have any further questions or comments.