Re: majordomo.com

[Ross Steiner <rsteiner @ ti . com>]

Christopher,

At 05:22 PM 5/31/97 -0500, Christopher Knight wrote:
> ...
>Yes, I'm the founder of SparkNET's Majordomo Division....
>so I take responsibility for what is on that site.  
>
>No, we don't sell Majordomo software, and your guess is right, 
>all we sell is list-hosting related services.  
> ...
>ps:  Before you flame me, for whatever reason, please read the next
>	series of posts, where I address many of the emails sent today
>	from this list.

OK, I read your series of posts.

Now, looking at your page:

  http://www.majordomo.com/

I feel quite uncomfortable about a number of things:

1. "Become a Majordomo Dealer"  http://www.majordomo.com/reseller.html

   Implies that you are selling Majordomo, which you can't
   and don't do.

2. "Call SparkNET's Majordomo Division Toll Free" (bottom of main page)

   Isn't this sort of like saying:

   "Call SparkNET's Netscape Division..." ?  This really implies a lot.

3. "How Majordomo Got Started"  http://www.majordomo.com/started.html

   A couple of levels down into the Web pages you talk about the
   actual owners of the software.  (A couple of levels too low in
   my opinion).

I think that a little more honesty is in order here.  You aren't really lying, but you are implying that you own something that you don't.  Just using that domain name is enough to do that, but you go further (with one and two above).

To dispel this, you should really consider putting something like:

  Majordomo is Copyright © 1993-1997 Great Circle Associates, Inc.

(with the correct starting date of course).  You also need a link to the
Greater Circle web page.  I can think of two places, their name in the copyright string, and on the How Majordomo Got Started page.

Also, having a Majordomo Division seems totally outrageous to me.

I have no problem at all with you making money hosting mailing lists.  However, I felt very uneasy with your page.  I certainly couldn't recommend your site to anyone looking for list hosting services.  You may be within the letter of the law (I'm no lawyer though).  However, you are stretching it as much as you can.

Regards,
Ross Steiner
rsteiner@ti.com
(speaking for myself, not TI of course)