"Front Street" Flat from Downtown Deco

Ya, sure.

I can't recall you posting Anything here prior to this. Do you use another nym?

Downtown Deco is a legitimate business,

Jim

Why? You couldn't figure that out?

-- Ray

Because the spammer began his post by saying "Every once in a while I build a diorama just for the fun of it and what you see here is an example of that. Once I got this model all done I thought, "Hey, that came out kind of cool, I bet other people would buy this if it were a kit." So I decided to put it all together in one box and do a very limited edtion kit."

In other words, he's trying to soften the fact that he's spamming the newsgroup by pretending that he's an old friend around here who's just doing us a favor, and that he never really intended to actually SELL anything.

While I doubt that much of anyone would object to a straightforward "Hey! This is my newest product and contact me here if you're interested" sort of post -after all, it's something that might well be useful to various souls on this newsgroup; and not your usual "Click here to get $3,500 FRom Paypal" bit- but the "I'm not *really* selling things" intro was tacky, and is insulting to anyone who's got an IQ as good as -or better then- your average fire hydrant.

You, of course, will want to argue about this for the next two weeks; but I'm afraid you're going to have to do it without me.

~Pete

Because the spammer began his post by saying "Every once in a while I build a diorama just for the fun of it and what you see here is an example of that. Once I got this model all done I thought, "Hey, that came out kind of cool, I bet other people would buy this if it were a kit." So I decided to put it all together in one box and do a very limited edtion kit."

In other words, he's trying to soften the fact that he's spamming the newsgroup by pretending that he's an old friend around here who's just doing us a favor, and that he never really intended to actually SELL anything.

While I doubt that much of anyone would object to a straightforward "Hey! This is my newest product and contact me here if you're interested" sort of post -after all, it's something that might well be useful to various souls on this newsgroup; and not your usual "Click here to get $3,500 FRom Paypal" bit- but the "I'm not *really* selling things" intro was tacky, and is insulting to anyone who's got an IQ as good as -or better then- your average fire hydrant.

You, of course, will want to argue about this for the next two weeks; but I'm afraid you're going to have to do it without me.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well said! One of the tackiest marketing efforts I've seen. The URL leads you to eBay. I seem to recall eBay frowning on sellers who spam.

They say they prohibit the practice, but they won't do anything about it.

Prezactly.

Prezactly.

----------------------------------- Unless they think it costs them money. $50 shipping on a $1 item will get their attention.

I must disagree with your assessment. Offering to sell a model to a group of modelers is not spam. He's just telling us about something that we are intersted in anyway. Now if this was a newsgroup about politics or cooking or religion, well then it would be spam, because those people are not interested in what he has to offer.

Personally, I thought the pictures were enjoyable. If the kit was offered in O scale I might even buy it.

Oh, dear. And you somehow believe that you shouldn't get spam here?

-- Ray

Good grief, you guys. ONE post is NOT spam. Stop being so precious. You're all just too touchy.

You guys don't recognize creativity. How sad for you.

-- Ray

We may not recognize "creativity", but we know Tacky when we see it.

Yet somehow you miss that whizzing noise of creativity sailing right over your head. How odd.

Leave the guy alone. If you don't like what goes on here, leave. Better yet, start a forum of your own where you can censor and netkop everyone who dares cross your path.

-- Ray

Wikipedia: "Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, **Usenet newsgroup spam**, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social networking spam, television advertising and file sharing network spam."

BTW: Ebay -where our protagonist is actually selling his wares- also defines online advertising outside of Ebay itself as spamming, and that's what Lobby was speaking of.

Yes, and if you read the thread you understand that everyone here already pretty much agreed with that.

Nobody seems to be upset that the spammer mentioned his wares here; only about the way he did it; which was a classic -and tacky- "shucks- folks-I'm-not-really-trying-to-sell-you-anything" spammer's approach.

People who do this sort of thing need to be told that they'd do better to just tell the unvarnished truth: "I've got something nice here that you might want to buy".

They'd piss off a lot fewer potential customers that way.

~Pete

Wikipedia: "Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, **Usenet newsgroup spam**, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social networking spam, television advertising and file sharing network spam."

BTW: Ebay -where our protagonist is actually selling his wares- also defines online advertising outside of Ebay itself as spamming, and that's what Lobby was speaking of.

Yes, and if you read the thread you understand that everyone here already pretty much agreed with that.

Nobody seems to be upset that the spammer mentioned his wares here; only about the way he did it; which was a classic -and tacky- "shucks- folks-I'm-not-really-trying-to-sell-you-anything" spammer's approach.

People who do this sort of thing need to be told that they'd do better to just tell the unvarnished truth: "I've got something nice here that you might want to buy".

They'd piss off a lot fewer potential customers that way.

~Pete

--------------------------------------------------------------- Precisely! Would not have bothered me at all.

Wading in with my 2 cents worth: The posting and the way it was presented bothered me not in the slightest. As a reader of RMR for well over a decade, and a modeler for much longer than that, I am quite familiar with Randy Pepprock, his company Downtown Deco and its products, and his previous postings to this group over the years. I recognized from the subject header who it was from and what the posting was potentially about. Armed with this knowledge the method with which Randy informed us of his new product was an interesting read and of no annoyance whatsoever. Perhaps the only negative bit was being directed to eBay to see the photos rather than a page on his own web site, but it was a very niggling annoyance.

What name does he use for posting? I've been reading here as long as you, and don't recall a post from him. I am familiar with the company from the model RR press.

Google newsgroups search shows a few dozen postings using the name on the original message in this thread. Whether Randy has used other besides that one I don't know.

Lobby: "Wah, wah . . . sniffle, I want my mummy."

My goodness but you are a world class crybaby.

Leave the guy alone. You've done more spamming in this thread than he ever did. Yet you see no irony in that. Tsk, tsk, tsk . . .

-- Ray