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July 14, 2004
What to do, what to do?
Short of being really rude and obnoxious, I have tried everything I can think of to try to decrease the number of e-mails I get each day from people who are not interested in my services and have no intention of ever using them. What they are interested in is getting free help, advice, direction, or money. If it were only a couple of e-mails a day, I could deal with it. But I'm taking 5-10 e-mails a day, not including the inquiries I receive from those who actually might want to hire me.
My website is chock full of information resources to help people find the information they need. I also have a Frequently Asked Questions page that answers (obviously) the questions that I am most frequently asked. But it doesn't seem as though many people pay attention. If they can't find something in a few seconds, they send off an e-mail. Many of them don't even bother to look at the FAQ or to read the information on my site.
I have tried using large red letters to direct people to my FAQ; I've also tried writing a friendly little poem. I've tried putting a table on each page with clearly written links to each question. I've tried other things to dissuade them from e-mailing me, because I just don't have the time to answer. My latest attempt is a statement on every page of my site stating that I cannot respond to e-mails that are unrelated to my services, and that the pages and resources on the site exist to help people do their own research. But like all my other attempts, this one has failed miserably. It might be nice to have the time to be a help desk, but I have to earn a living. And I've run out of ideas.
On another front, the plagarist didn't respond to my e-mail or take my material off her site. So I've sent off letters and e-mails to her website hosting company as well as to Google and Yahoo. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) requires them to either remove or disable her site, and/or have her make a counter-notification to my claim of copyright infringement. If these actions don't work, the next step will be The Lawyer. I really hate to do this type of thing -- it is time-consuming and a bother. But someone who steals my copyrighted material to promote her own business is appalling to me, so I have to deal with it.
Posted by Deborah at July 14, 2004 10:19 AM
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