If I may ask without offending anyone

[:(]

I hate to bring this public, but I have already tried customer service privately with no success.

Why are the food.com member/forum hosts allowed to spam our message boxes even though we have settings turned to no messages? I understand if you want to view them as staff, but what website's staff abuses the messages this way? If there is a general announcement, why not post it in the forums or on a place reserved for news, as other news items here are on the front page?
It really does bother me that I have to sort through these, some of which have the same message content & title year after year after year, message after message after message. And if I need to ask that host something, then it becomes awkward if I have them blocked from my message box by name.
I really do think it is rude to treat members this way, and the end result is bad because all I CAN do is ignore every single one of my messages rather than wasting my time.
I AM genuinely interested in people who have valid messages that are not sent to every other member's account.
And what if someone had a real message or valid question? Loss to that member, but at least your forum hosts get to spam. :/
I really am sad to have to post this here. And some may think it is rude, but no more rude than what I am complaining about.
I love this site and you guys know you can do better, especially do better by the members who still come here. Just sayin'!
Sue

[Molly53]

Gosh, Sue, I'm so sorry if you've been bothered. Did you tell the sender?

If you've got your inbox closed to messages you shouldn't be getting mass mails and if you've got particular members blocked, there shouldn't be any way they can email you at all.

If you receive an objectionable email, you might consider clicking on the link near the bottom to report it.

[:(]

Molly53 wrote:
Gosh, Sue, if you've got your inbox closed to messages you shouldn't be getting mass mails and if you've got particular members blocked, there shouldn't be any way they can email you at all.

If you receive an objectionable email, you might consider clicking on the link near the bottom to report it.

I closed the box and messages still came in, mysteriously set back to accepting messages.
I blocked the member but it gets awkward if I have to ask that member something then they say I am not accepting messages.
I have sent mails to customer support a couple of times trying to deal with this privately and discreetly, without hurting anyone's feelings. But I guess not. :/
And I really do honestly like the member that does this, but at some point you'd think a light bulb would go on or something.
What would you do, Molly? I am at a loss.

[Molly53]

If I were in your shoes, I'd drop the sender a courteous note asking to be removed from their bulk email list, Sue. You can let them know that you'd be happy to receive individual, personal emails, but not mass mailings.

[:(]

I think that would be appropriate if the members receiving these mails signed up to be on a bulk mailing list.
But it would be like if Food.com suddenly started sending all kinds of spam to the email addresses we sign up with. They don't do that. I guess I figured their courtesy should go across the board.
And if they do not expressly approve of forum hosts doing this, why should a host's spam be different from any other member? Sounds like a recipe for anarchy.
Rather than being the one responsible to have to ask the host to stop, why can't the hosts simply contain themselves to making a post in their forum asking if someone wants to be on their mailing list, and limit to that?
No member on this site should have to ask a spammer to stop. It just shouldn't be happening, period.

[duonyte]

It's just that there is no bulk mail function - not that I'm aware of. People have asked for it to be able to alert groups of people about certain events, but my understanding is that each zmail is sent individually. So someone must have thought you'd be interested in something. Odd that they would not drop you from their list if you requested to be dropped.

[Molly53]

duonyte wrote:
So someone must have thought you'd be interested in something..

I'm 100% sure that's what it was, Sue. The sender would probably be appalled that you're even a little bit upset by it.

[Mary at Food.com]

Sue, I've made the team aware of this and have asked for a response from them. I'll keep you posted and thanks for bringing this to our attention!

[Jasmine.]

Sue Lau, If you want to zmail me privately or email me directly [e-mail], we can troubleshoot this together.

[Mary at Food.com]

Thanks for stepping in Jasmine!

[:(]

Jasmine at Food.com wrote:
Sue Lau, If you want to zmail me privately or email me directly [e-mail], we can troubleshoot this together.

If I call the person out privately or publicly, eventually it will have the same result, that person will be hurt.
Iknow this person tries very hard to support the forums here. I think ANY host that has sent me a mail needs to ask themself if I could be talking about them. And if someone sent me a mail like this, they know. But the only way I see to solve this is to have it apply to ALL the forum hosts across the board.
I am NOT going to name them. I already have done so privately and more than once. My experience here is that calling someone out publicly can turn into a train wreck and hurt everyone involved. There is NO ONE, from top to bottom, that wants to be criticized.
It just seems to me that it is time for a new rule: no bulk mail/spam from this day forward unless someone specificly asks to have it, and there should be a way for them to easily remove their name as well.
To have every forum have a sign up list that is stickied at the top so members can add and subtract their names seems to me to be the easiest and most effective and face-saving method possible.
Can Food.com do this or no?

[duonyte]

Sue - we cannot send bulk mail as hosts - we cannot create lists to send the same zmail to a whole group of people with just a few strokes. We can only send mail to individuals.

[:(]

duonyte wrote:
Sue - we cannot send bulk mail as hosts - we cannot create lists to send the same zmail to a whole group of people with just a few strokes. We can only send mail to individuals.

Duonyte, bulk mail/spam is not defined by whether someone sends it out one at a time to many people or can do it with one-click or even "just a few strokes."

Spam is unsolicited.
If a member cannot stop themselves from sending unsolicited mail, whether they are not they are a forum host, or just a casual member, the Food.com rule should apply (see your messages box for the original text of this):

Please let us know if this message is harassing, abusive or otherwise inappropriate (includes spam), and we will take appropriate action. Please do not reply to the sender in the same manner. Regardless of whether you were provoked, you can lose your membership for inappropriate behavior towards other members. -Food.com

Do you mean to say that if you had a list of people who wanted to receive your mail that you could not follow it, but instead would feel a compulsion to even send to those not on that list?
All I want is to be treated with respect and courtesy. Is that not possible here?
And I will say again that my settings for mail were turned off, then suddenly they were back on again, so obviously in the event of software errors and bugs, using the settings is not a replacement for administrative action, if you ask me.

[duonyte]

. Spam is defined as follows:

"Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages, especially advertising, indiscriminately"

Sending mail to a small group of people - and I am confident that the zmail you get inviting you to participate in ZWT or something else is being sent to a small group of people - is not spam. It is not being sent to everyone who has signed up on Zaar. (I cannot say I know this absolutely but I am very confident that is the case). The mail is not sent by bulk by an automatic emailing program. Someone is typing in your name into the zmail system.

It may be unsolicited zmail but it is not spam.

That being said I understand perfectly you may not want to receive it. I know of no way of opting out and maybe there should be. I do think your labeling as spam something you get from a person who sees that you participate in forums or whatever and thinks you might enjoy and be a valuable participant in something as spam is an unfortunate choice of labels. You are getting an invitation.

[Molly53]

Sue, I'm very sorry you're upset by this. I hope we can all put this behind us now that you've made your feelings so clear.