tranfree issue 22 - 4th December 2000

Be Careful How You Mislead the Marketing Guys...

by Alex Eames

This should make you laugh...

When you mislead the marketing guys it can come back to bite you on the butt

I'm talking about the recent Yahoo!/eGroups takeover.

I've just been kicked out of eGroups because when I registered I told them I was born in 1990.

Why did I do this?

Because I didn't want to be profiled by the marketing guys.

They ask for quite a lot of personal information on the signup page and I didn't feel like giving them my full life history on a plate. You never know what it's going to be used for.

They make these data fields mandatory, so if you don't want them to have your real data you are forced to give false data.

For example, at tranfree we ask you only for your email address. It's all we need to send you the ezine, so why complicate things?

Why did they kick me out?

I'll let them speak for themselves...

"Dear eGroups Member,

This is a reminder that you need to provide a completed and signed consent form from a parent or guardian in order to continue using the eGroups service.

The information you provided during registration for eGroups, a Yahoo! subsidiary, indicates that you are too young to create an account.

In accordance with the recently enacted Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act, eGroups and Yahoo! require the consent of your parent or guardian to collect, use and disclose certain personal identifying information you may provide to us during the course of your use of our services."

So maybe I should get...

...my daddy to sign this stupid form for me? Coz I'm only in my 30's? (I suppose you'll say it serves me right for being 'too clever' - perhaps it does)?

I suppose I could always sign it myself and fax it over. But why bother to pay the cost of a fax to the US when I can just go and sign up at eGroups again with a 'new improved' age and identity?

So too can all the kids who feel like it and Yahoo! and the US government know this. Talk about pointless and unenforceable!

Here's the funny bit...

As you probably know, translatortips.com sponsors several eGroups lists. I have received no less than 3 auto-emails from the mighty Yahoo! regarding this consent form. Writing back has been fruitless.

Basically they are kicking me out unless I play their game! Which to me is like a red rag to a bull. I couldn't play their game even if I wanted to.

In the first email, I wrote back telling them about translatortips.com and tranfree and the fact that we sponsored several of their lists, paid by credit card and how many under 13's have credit cards?

In the second I repeated a similar thing.

But I don't think they even read 'em. Probably on automatic discard

So now you know!

If you are in the same situation, I suggest you go back and re- register with all the groups you want to be in. I haven't bothered yet because, to be honest, I don't miss them very much.

I had switched settings over to "read it on the web" for all my lists before going to Poland in the summer and never switched back.

But just a word of warning. If you sign up with false data, make sure your age is not too low. I think you have to be over 13 for compliance with this new law.

I guess they have to protect their own backside legally, but it seems like a massive waste of time and money to me.

What kids do you know who aren't capable of resubscribing with a higher age? I don't know any, d'you?

Alex Eames is the founder of translatortips.com,
editor of tranfree and author of the eBook...

How to Earn $80,000+ Per Year as a Freelance Translator
http://www.translatortips.net/ht50.html

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