From: Paul Wakfer (70023.3041@CompuServe.COM)
Date: Thu Dec 19 1996 - 23:58:21 MST
On 19-Dec-96 06:30 PST, Kennita Watson wrote:
>Paul Wakfer wrote:
>>How about *using* the chain letter approach to reward people for
>>propagating an important idea or other piece of information which we find
>>highly valuable to spread (say, my Prometheus Project information). It
>>would work this way. I start the letter which contains the information
>>which I which to propagate and at the bottom states, that if you cross
>>off the first name on the list, add your own to the bottom, and send me
>>the name that was at the top of the list. I will pay that person (say
>>between $0.50 and $1.00) for each time that I receive his name. Apart
>>from the fact that most people (especially the ones that I would want to
>>attract) are *so* against chain letters that they would not even begin to
>>read it (unless they don't realize until the end that it is a chain
>>letter), what do readers think of this idea?
>
>(ARGH)
>*Apart* from that?
I agree that's a big if and probably the reason why it won't work and
therefore the reason why I won't be doing it. Still the method,
objectively, seems quite reasonable to me and it is only because bad chain
letters have ruined things for me that the idea wouldn't work. Too bad, as
usual the bad often ruin things for the good.
>What about your reputation?
My rule of operation is *never* to think about my reputation per se. To the
extent I do right, I will earn and will have a good reputation. To the
extent I do wrong, I will deserve and will have a bad reputation. Doing
right or wrong is all that I need be concerned about.
>Also, if I'm not mistaken, at about the word "pay" it stopped being merely
>obnoxious and started being illegal. To miscellaneous government
>agencies, the US Postal Service among them, I think "chain letter" +
>"money" = "pyramid scheme"
That's news to me. I pay so little attention to many legalities (always
being much more concerned about right and wrong) that I did not know money
payment chain letters were illegal.
>I certainly wasted time (not much money, fortunately) on such things in my
>young and foolish days, [which, for you, were soooo long ago :)]
This made me smile and take some pleasure from the implication that at 58,
I might still be capable of being "young and foolish".
>when I knew less about both statistics and social psych.
Of course, this could be taken as a comment that I don't know anything
about these subjects :-)
-- Paul --
Paul Wakfer
email:70023.3041@compuserve.com phone:909-481-9620 pager:800-805-2870
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Check out the Prometheus Project web site at URL:
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