USFA Spam: What Shame...

[nyacfencing]

I received a spam advertisement from the USFA from the email address "fencing news" and with the subject line "newsletter". Who is running this organization and making these shameful decisions?

Just to boot, the entire email was perfect EXCEPT for the "unsubscribe" link, which sends all unsubscribe emails to the address ""//fencing_news@usfencing.org". Those two extra slashes cause your unsubscribe to get bounced back... I am so disappointed in where we are heading.

[edew]

I would, too, if all USFA got from providing this spamming opportunity was a free business credit card for the staff at the national office. If USFA got $250K/yr, up front, from the credit card companies and such, I could live with the spamming. (I'd imagine USFA gets $1 for each person who signs up through the link, which means USFA actually loses because NO ONE ever signs up through some spammed email and some people might be so pissed that they might not join USFA for the year or ever.)

[Serpentile6]

They know the best ways to get publicity... I think they should start doing telemarketing phone calls to people. Say about 7pm sound good?

[campb1pr]

edew is probably on the right track. I work for an organization that has received a large contract from a credit card company to provide exclusive rights to our membership list, and support from us in trying to market to our membership. We do have about 100,000 members, so that is why we get big money, but it is up front (not all at once, but over a 5 year contract) and it is not dependent on people signing up for cards.

I would imagine that the USFA would also have a similar agreement in place to allow use of its membership lists similarly.



I hope.

[Zilverzmurfen]

...over a 5 year contract...

So the USFA members are stuck with spamming for the upcoming 5 years? Great way to treat the members...

[campb1pr]

not necessarily - our contract calls for mass mailings once a year, with a limit on the # of telemarketing calls that can be made during each year, and the rest of the term is really just to hold us to the exclusivity of this card provider. Each organization gets their own very individualized contract. Luckily for our members, the person who negotiated ours was pretty knowledgeable about these things. Who knows what the USFA negotiated.

[parrythis]

I checked the membership application form to see if there was a checkbox the applicant could check to indicate such e-mails were not desired. There is a generic one about receiving fencing information by e-mail, but none that could be checked to prevent receiving e-mail from business partners.

I also searched the website to look for some kind of "privacy statement" that might inform a member about their rights concerning such things. When I found and clicked on "Legal Notice", the web-site displayed:

Coming Soon!!!

The sad thing is, we're paying for this service.

[suterces]

Does anybody actually know someone with the fencing credit card?
And don't they already have a stupid ad on the top of the usfa website for that damn card?

[oiuyt]

I know someone with the card from the former company. She likes the old picture better than the current company's so didn't switch when the USFA did.

I'm relatively certain that I've seen at least a couple of people with the new card as well.

-B

[4qtrs]

The guys at Nationals that were trying to push the credit card were pretty lame. A free tee-shirt for a 21% variable interest rate credit card...no thanks.

[sabreur]

Oh man, I just joined the USFA because I want to fence some satellites this year and they've changed the rules so I have to enter through my NGB....

I hope I ticked the "don't send me any crap" box...

[Inquartata]

It would be easier not to provide the USFA with your email address and just get the news from the website...if only the website was...well, you know.

[4qtrs]

It would be easier not to provide the USFA with your email address and just get the news from the website...if only the website was...well, you know.

This is slightly off topic so I apologize, but does anyone know what software application is being used to render the USFA pages?

[Phincer]

They know the best ways to get publicity... I think they should start doing telemarketing phone calls to people. Say about 7pm sound good?

Sounds great to me-we are always at the club at that hour....call all you want! Weekends we screen our calls if we're not at a tournament.

Sorry, but our entry into the credit card market went to a card that gives us major airline miles...so we can go to NACs.

[keropie]

At I guess I'd say that the USFA is a struts application running on a tomcat JSP/Servlet engine (hopefully) tied into an Apache webserver. And using URL rewriting for session store. But it really is just a guess.

[4qtrs]

At I guess I'd say that the USFA is a struts application running on a tomcat JSP/Servlet engine (hopefully) tied into an Apache webserver. And using URL rewriting for session store. But it really is just a guess.

Thanks, that makes sense considering the error messages.

[keropie]

It could also fairly easily explain some of the crashes (could easily be JVM crashes, poor load balancing (if they are going that route), timeouts for rendering some overly complex pages, etc.). It also fits in general with NFP webhosting, as every product involved is free. And hell, it's actually fun software to work with ^^

[Fencing Mom]

At I guess I'd say that the USFA is a struts application running on a tomcat JSP/Servlet engine (hopefully) tied into an Apache webserver. And using URL rewriting for session store.

In the words of Geno's Cheesesteaks, "Speak English!"

[Mr Epee]

In the words of Geno's Cheesesteaks, "Speak English!"

Ha!... I used to live across the street from Geno's...

But Pat's is still better... where even good English is no guarantee of good service...

[KD5MDK]

Good service for a cheesesteak is a lot to ask for. Personally, I have an affections for the ones at Rick's in the Reading Terminal.

To wander back to the subject, I'm really looking for airline miles in my next card, though I have trouble deciding which one is least likely to go under. If the USFA could wrangle a deal with United to get in on that, I'd find it rather more tempting than it is now.