Pam
09-06-2001, 07:13 AM
I've wanted to comment on this for a long time, because it's a bee in my bonnet, and the latest spamming of our members is just one more example of attempting to trade on John Edward's name.
Please let me clarify, and say that we don't want to discourage our members from joining other boards, in fact quite the opposite. The more boards, the merrier.
However what I have a problem with, is the integrity of those who feel they have to use John Edward's name to generate interest, attention or sales of their own services or products.
The person in question posted in our group, and when we advised him he could not advertise his services in our group, created his own forum with the words "John Edward" in the title.
I've been to the group in question, and though it has John Edward in the title, reading the posts you'll find it has very little to do with John Edward at all. It's mostly the owners of the forum repeating over and over again their "channelled" material.
I've seen these attempts to trade on John Edward's name over and over again.
Last May, an ex-National Enquirer-reporter-turned-"medium" emailed me under an assumed name to tell me that John Edward recommended her book, when I knew full well that he hadn't. But the worst was when she private messaged our members telling them she had their crossed over relatives with her, after reading the details of their lives in their posts.
Then I was spammed with repeated emails (because I once subscribed to the 5-6 Yahoo John Edward groups) by a "medium" who says on his website: "Remember to always appreciate, communicate & validate the people in your life." with no thanks or even a nod to the original author of that statment. Apparently they collected the email addresses of all the members of each John Edward group.
Let's not forget the "medium" who was selling readings on eBay, but to attract John Edward fans, he put in his title, that he was giving away "free John Edward book with every reading". When he tried to post in our forum and we told him he couldn't advertise there, someone who was upset about that used the feedback form on our site to send me a message that said "if this doesn't get cleaned up soon I WILL find you and hunt you all down! And that is a promise." (This was reported to the authorities.)
Go and search the net on "John Edward" and you will find a plethora of new websites hosted by people claiming to be "mediums" and mimicking the details of John's life, or blatantly using the content from John's first book almost word for word.
So as you can see, I have good reason to doubt the integrity of people who feel they have to use John Edward's name. It leads me to question why they can't make it on thier own, without going after "John Edward" fans, or using his name.
And spam is still spam: unsolicited email.
This is not to mention the PMS - Professional Media Skeptics, who are enjoying all the increased attention in the media and on the net. I can imagine their book sales, magazine subscriptions and speakers fee's are off the charts. They must love John Edward.
Please let me clarify, and say that we don't want to discourage our members from joining other boards, in fact quite the opposite. The more boards, the merrier.
However what I have a problem with, is the integrity of those who feel they have to use John Edward's name to generate interest, attention or sales of their own services or products.
The person in question posted in our group, and when we advised him he could not advertise his services in our group, created his own forum with the words "John Edward" in the title.
I've been to the group in question, and though it has John Edward in the title, reading the posts you'll find it has very little to do with John Edward at all. It's mostly the owners of the forum repeating over and over again their "channelled" material.
I've seen these attempts to trade on John Edward's name over and over again.
Last May, an ex-National Enquirer-reporter-turned-"medium" emailed me under an assumed name to tell me that John Edward recommended her book, when I knew full well that he hadn't. But the worst was when she private messaged our members telling them she had their crossed over relatives with her, after reading the details of their lives in their posts.
Then I was spammed with repeated emails (because I once subscribed to the 5-6 Yahoo John Edward groups) by a "medium" who says on his website: "Remember to always appreciate, communicate & validate the people in your life." with no thanks or even a nod to the original author of that statment. Apparently they collected the email addresses of all the members of each John Edward group.
Let's not forget the "medium" who was selling readings on eBay, but to attract John Edward fans, he put in his title, that he was giving away "free John Edward book with every reading". When he tried to post in our forum and we told him he couldn't advertise there, someone who was upset about that used the feedback form on our site to send me a message that said "if this doesn't get cleaned up soon I WILL find you and hunt you all down! And that is a promise." (This was reported to the authorities.)
Go and search the net on "John Edward" and you will find a plethora of new websites hosted by people claiming to be "mediums" and mimicking the details of John's life, or blatantly using the content from John's first book almost word for word.
So as you can see, I have good reason to doubt the integrity of people who feel they have to use John Edward's name. It leads me to question why they can't make it on thier own, without going after "John Edward" fans, or using his name.
And spam is still spam: unsolicited email.
This is not to mention the PMS - Professional Media Skeptics, who are enjoying all the increased attention in the media and on the net. I can imagine their book sales, magazine subscriptions and speakers fee's are off the charts. They must love John Edward.