Jon Garfunkel on Fri, 26 Feb 1999 10:13:14 +0100 (CET)


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

<nettime> Spreading the gospel of free email


[Have I beaten adbusters.org to the punch?]

A good number of my peers entering the workplace are quickly catching to the
best thing since the free email account from the university. Well, this new
thing happens to be a free email account, one they can access via the web
without troubling to consider how to collect non-work related mail.

Which service to choose? If one sees enough "signatures" at the bottom of
emails from their friends pitching a particular service, why not join in?
And thus hotmail has rocketed past AOL as America's favorite email address.

This "signature campaign" may have, in theory, piggybacked on the prolific
anti-censorship blue ribbon campaign of years past. After we all take a
gleeful laugh at this stealth meme, we must take plans to stop it before
it's too late!

Here's my list of mimic slogans to jam the adspace. I leave it to the pros
at adbusters.org and others to come up with better, funnier, hipper ones:


"Get Your Private, Free Email, but that doesn't mean it's subpoena proof"
"Get Your Private, Free Email and a Trip to Disney from Bill Gates"
"Get Your Free Email, and you get what you pay for."

"Get Your Private, Free [Fe]male (and let me know where you found them.)"
"Get Your Private, Free email by setting up your own server, editing
sendmail.cf, getting a leased line (or DSL), and nabbing your own domain
before iname.com does."
"Get Your Private, Free advertisements-- right on your software!"

"Why pay for email? Well, why pay for anything?"
"Free email, but Free Tibet first."
"Your email may be free, but my time ain't."

"Freedom of speech brought to you by Mr. Soft: 'What do you want to say
today?"
"Call now! And pledge so you can keep receiving this email for free!" (it is
pledge month for public radio 'GBH for you outtatownaz).


Jon Garfunkel
look.boston.ma.us
___________________________________________________
check the headers to see who does the fine job of hosting and
delivering my value-added email.
---
#  distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/  contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl