Plaxo tends to bring on strong negative emotions in people. Frustration. Revulsion. Dismay.
The reason so many people hate Plaxo? Those of us who aren’t customers, which is the vast majority of everyone, get multiple daily emails from those few misguided souls who’ve chosen to sign up for the Plaxo Spam Service (my name, not theirs).
When you sign up for Plaxo, they make it misleadingly easy to spam your entire address book with your contact information and a Plaxo advertisement. And any updates they do are likely to be sent to their entire address book as well. As millions of people unwittingly do this, we, the non Plaxo users, are hit with a massive aggregate cost: dealing with all of this spam.
Jeff Nolan and many others have dealt with Plaxo by putting it in their spam filter. I’ve gone through their multi step (and very hard to find) process for removing each of my five emails from their system (the process includes replying to yet another email from them to prove you own the account – how nice).
And all along the way, as we are forced to deal with Plaxo spam and various avoidance processes, we are told by them that the best way to avoid the spam is to simply become a member of Plaxo.
If you join Plaxo, you can fill out your contact information once and choose who gets to see your information. From then on, updates are handled through Plaxo so that you won’t receive any more e-mails.
It’s like a stalker telling his stalkee that if she will only marry him, he’ll stop.
And if you blog about Plaxo, or otherwise publicly voice your discontent, Plaxo will send a representative to patiently beat you into submission in the comments.
Well, Plaxo has finally announced that they’ve harassed enough people into joining and won’t be making it quite so easy to for users to spam their entire address book. The words they chose certainly tell us that, at least internally, they fully knew how miserable they were making all of us:
…we’ve always known that the update requests were a means to an end — our goal has always been to get as many members as possible so that these e-mails were unnecessary. And it looks like we’re finally getting to that end.
As of last week, we’ve past 10 million members. We are now growing at over 50,000 users a day. Due to this great growth, the depth of our network, plus our heartfelt desire to be good net citizens, we have started phasing out update requests.
This feature will probably always exist in some form, but we are no longer aggressively pushing new users to send out e-mails and are adding restrictions to prevent existing users from sending out large batches. Within the next six months (allowing for releases and upgrades to our base), you should see these messages drop to a trickle.
I’ve bolded text above that I find particularly incredible given Plaxo’s longstanding position that their email blasts were perfectly legitimate, and really, even though we didn’t know it, good for us.
So overall, I’m happy that Plaxo is doing this and I applaud them for it. But how about an official apology as well?
Nevermind, they’d just send it by email anyway.
I am having a good laugh at Plaxo’s expense. I signed up for Plaxo (for about ten minutes) a good while back, and was *immediately* bombarded / spammed / attacked with marketing messages from them. And I had already registered! Needless to say, I quickly deleted my account.
I wonder if they still do that to new members?
….we’ve always known that the update requests were a means to an end — our goal has always been to get as many members as possible so that these e-mails were unnecessary. And it looks like we’re finally getting to that end…
We created a spamming feature to grow our user base. Now we feel as though we have spammed enough people and over the next six months we will decrease the amount of spamming that our system facilitates. Thank you and have a nice day.
lol.
Plaxo is an increadible useful service – when used properly. I’ve always said that the “decent” way is to rely on the auto-updates only (which works between members), and don’t touch the mass-mailer facility.
I love the wording of the announcement; after all the denial they admit to have been “aggressively pushing” us. Wow!
Btw, they still don’t really have a business model, the premium offering is poor. I tried it, lost 2 workdays recovering my data (this should be another looong post), then Customer Service ignored my refund request (within the trial period) 3 times, finally an email to the CEO helped.
But again, the auto-update feature is priceless (especially if you don’t migrate to new computers too often).
I agree with Zoli – Plaxo is a great service, but only if you’re wise enough to not send out mass-spam messages. I use it to sync my Outlook data between two computers and three Outlook profiles and it works well. Also, if you don’t have access to your Outlook for some reason, their web-based calendar and contact management is pretty good too.
I do think, however, that Todd’s post was extremely arrogant and two-faced! Admitting to the fact that they spammed people to build up their customer base and not apologising for it is unacceptable. Especially when used in the same sentance as wanting to be good net citizens.
The bit of their announcement that Eric quotes above, especially the bit that, “our goal has always been to get as many members as possible so that these e-mails were unnecessary” makes me want to barf.
The self-righteousness – no, just complete egocentrism in that statement – is astonishing. I’ve been watching Plaxo employees (what’s that guy’s name, again? Kelly?) go on the offensive for a couple years now, and I’m consistently apalled.
It’s a wonder that people like this are able to stay in business.
I signed up for Plaxo so I could sync my address book. But their sync program was annoying– half the time it made my Thunderbird client hang.
I eventually switched to gmail and uploaded my TB address book (once!). Now my address book is safely on Big Brother (I’m sorry, I meant Google)’s server, and no more sync problems.
It’s easy to get rid of Plaxo junk mail – just go to https://www.plaxo.com/opt_out and opt out. I haven’t had a single Plaxo email since doing this more than a year ago!
@John Zeisler – As Michael pointed out in another post, opting out is a multi-step process that you need to complete for each email address you have.
And to add to what Stuart said John, what if I just started mass spamming you and insisted that you had to “opt out” to stop it?
What always made me so mad about Plaxo was that their business model created these third party costs (us-spam) that they didn’t have to factor into the income statement. Any company that does that is evil, in my opinion.
Incedentally, the part about “the best way to avoid the spam is to simply become a member of Plaxo” was totally bogus. I am a Plaxi member, since I actually find it useful when used properly (see my comment#4 above), yet I regularly got spammed by other Plaxo users who still found it a good idea to spam all monthly.
I spent hours and hours corresponding with Plaxo, only to learn that there was no way for me as a member to selectively block others from spamming me.
Plaxo blows, there’s little to no point in going in-depth with that either. They’re about making money and screwing people over, that’s their model; their model was never about creating great connectivity software and that’s why the company is wrong.
I received a cease and desist notice from their lawyers in 2003 (quite possibly late 2002, it has been awhile) over an article I published on functions in their software that touched Outlook’s security a little too much for me to feel safe with having it installed.
Stephen, I disagree with you when you say that there’s no point in discussing this. I think that bloggers and other journalists talking about it is what forced plaxo to make this change.
Wow, I’d love to read that article
Love Mike’s background
Finally. If my email box could talk, it would be singing praises. To hear about that cease and desist letter really upsets me too. Mike’s right, we need to discuss this issue. All hail the power of bloggers.
-Jason L. Baptiste
It’s sad, because one bad social software experience can really sour the whole lot of them. It took me a long time to warm up to the idea of ‘community’ or ’social networks’ again after a really bad (and swift) experience with Plaxo.
I finally settled in on http://www.linkedin.com to keep track of my contacts.
I agree with Zoli it can be very, very useful. Personally I don’t use the spam features (please update you address info) and sometimes it does drive me nuts getting e-mail updates on people’s infomation.
That being said, when I switched back to Outlook from Thunderbird, while move my e-mails over was a royal pain … contacts … simple as the Plaxo toolbar and I was done.
I was considering trying Plaxo, but now I’m confused. It sounds like they used to aggressively push people to send emails to their contacts, but it was still under the person’s control. That’s certainly not cool but is that the only thing that made them evil or is there something else? In reading some of the other comments here, it sounds like some of you know something I’m missing. If they are no longer going to be sending out emails, are they still evil? I guess I could try linkedin, but don’t they also send out linkedin spam? I’ve gotten a bunch of those in the past as well. This is all so confusing.
Matti: Spam is the evil being discussed here. Plaxo isn’t apologizing for their obnoxious opt-out spam.
It’s always great to see how a good idea can be ruined by a few twisted people. Don’t web companies understand how visible everything is? You’re transparent even if you don’t want to be.
I hadn’t kept up with the background of Plaxo but I know I periodically get those update your address forms from music industry types via Plaxo and at least one other service.
I always feel like it’s someone asking me to do their work for them.
It also comes across as a professional tool that makes the user look unprofessional. At least now I know it wasn’t necessarily the total fault of the people using the service.
Thanks for the feedback, it seems that the mention of Plaxo certainly brings out strong feelings in some people
But regardless of what you think of us, all we really wanted to say is that we are genuinely committed to doing the right thing.
I do think that Plaxo is funny in that there’s a lot of misinformation and conspiracy theories out there, and it has really taken on a life of its own. It’s too much to cover in this comment, but I would like to invite anyone who’s open to it to come by our office for lunch and talk to us in person. Feel free to e-mail me at todd at plaxo to set up a day.
that’s my question, if they are evil only because they send spam and they are no longer doing that, does that mean they are now good? So why only less evil? Is there something else people should be leary of? If it’s just this one issue, I would think people would be happy to know they are making a change. Or at least relieved. I’m not getting that impression which is what worries me.
Matti – I think that Plaxo shouldn’t send emails out to non members, period. That’s the “less” evil point.
I was at a recent event and Mark Jen was there (and he still introduces himself as the “Guy who got fired from Google” which is a bit damn strange) and he noted that he just joined Plaxo and they were just adding AOL email support.
I though that was AWESOME… Revenge on AOL for releasing their users on usenet in the mid-90s!
This is just like spam only in reverse !
I’m glad you’ve highlighted the crappiness of Plaxo’s spamming strategy. I had the same issue with SMS.ac, and I’ve been hoping to see a similar reaction to what they’re doing. A quick Google shows that Russell Beattie complained about their business practices, then got hit with a cease and desist:
http://www.russ...ok/1008792.html
Why not take a lead out of the book of the advertising industry and the concept of frequency?
I am sure everybody reading this article were not bothered by the first five emails they received from plaxo, but did get pissed off somewhere around number 30.
Plaxo would know the likelihood of someone to respond drops off dramatically, so why not frequency cap the mailings per email address and then they get the best of both worlds? (don’t piss people off and some form of viral signups)
It serves a useful purpose as long as one doesn’t ask people to join. I use it as with LinkedIn, and other “social” services. I just make it a rule NEVER to annoy anyone into joining anything. If you have already joined and indicated a willingness to play well with others then all is right with the world. It is all about staying “find-able” in todays topsy turvey world imho.
Hi Kevin, most people know me from the Google incident, so it’s the easiest way to get them up to date on my story
Matti – I believe the e-mailing was the “evil” part, that part is going away now. I hope that makes us not evil, but if there’s something else, I’d love to hear about it. Thanks!
So Plaxo’s approach is to maintain the same antagonistic approach for a few years until they’ve accumulated enough e-mail addresses, then stop doing it and hope we eventually forget. Wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
I think it’s an unacceptable business model to be a poor netizen to grow your base, then become a good one when you’ve accomplished your goals. It speaks volumes of the company (lack of) ethics.
We should *not* reward companies like this with our patronage. Their tactics have changed, but not the people running the show.
just to throw a little conspiracy out there (not out of line i figure given their current stance on what they’d defended before), perhaps they’re pulling a realaudio and realizing that their annoying business practices were hindering adoption. i know that for me, getting a plaxo spam arrived as evidence that seemed to be a popular service among upwardly-mobile ignoramuses. i imagine this perception can get in the way of future viability for the company.
i’d love to read what guy kawasaki would have to say about all of this.
Michael – Isn’t this exactly what LinkedIn does as well – ie: encourage their users to send spam to their contacts? Yet why haven’t you called them a virus or a spammer? In fact I noticed you have a LinkedIn account, but have you even tried Plaxo? I’m a user of both services and find both extremely useful for their own purposes.
Sure I’ve noticed Plaxo has “encouraged” me to send out emails to my contacts. There was a wizard that ran automatically after installing Plaxo that would allow me to send emails to my contacts. There was also a button on the toolbar that would run the same wizard. I certainly didn’t like the wizard being run automatically when I installed (shame on you Plaxo), but it didn’t do anything (ie: send spam) without me going through the entire wizard. I’ve actually used it a couple of times and found it very useful. But I didn’t pick everyone in my address book either, just those people I really wanted to stay in touch with. That’s the smart thing to do.
LinkedIn does the exact same thing, and perhaps to a greater extreme. The first thing you are encouraged to do is send out invites to your contacts (ie: spam). How did you get your 209 connections on LinkedIn? Most likely you sent them a “LinkedIn spam” invite. Everywhere in their service are buttons and links to “invite” my other contacts as well as other LinkedIn users into my LinkedIn network. I’m constantly being “encouraged” to expand my network. Heck, I don’t even know your contact details but I could still send you an invite through LinkedIn. I certainly can’t do that with Plaxo.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m an avid reader of TechCrunch. But I think you’re being hypocritical and you’re discouraging people away from a valuable service. There are many of us who absolutely love Plaxo, use it responsibly, and get great benefit out of it (and LinkedIn too).
I am a satisfied user of both Plaxo and LinkedIn and find that they both work fine — provide you primarily use the auto-update feature.
I don’t invite anyone to either service unless they’re already users. This doesn’t really apply to Plaxo, but for LinkedIn, my contact database has already been uploaded and only invite contacts to connect with me after they have joined the service on their own.
I just wanted to add my two cents worth in favor of Plaxo’s tool. Notice, I said “tool”. Just like any tool, when used properly, it can be a valuable addition to your “toolbox”.
I have found it to be extremely helpful in managing my contacts, calendar, and tasks between my home pc and my work pc. I’ve been a happy user of Plaxo for well over a year and can’t think of a single thing I don’t like about the product.
I realized, when first using Plaxo, the ramifications of mass emailing your entire address book and I chose not to use that particular function. However, I did contact several close friends and associates, using Plaxo, who also opted to use their free service. They all seem to be just as happy with the results as I.
I certainly do not recall being spammed by Plaxo corporate. Maybe it is because I joined early after my first contact. In that regard, I really cannot comment on Plaxo (the company), but Plaxo (the tool) works great for me.
As many people, I’ll put my bit in favour of Plaxo. Plaxo is an excellent tool, it saves you enormous time, it’s really easy to manage your Calendar, Contacts, etc if you have multiple PCs (or Operating Systems in just 1 PC!). And of course, there’s nothing worse than losing all your contacts if your Windows decides to die, and you’ve forgotten to do a backup for the last… (several)… months.
Of course, if you want to have all these great features and benefits, please use it wisely. I do, my friends do, and it’s all a wonderful world
Prem
Looks like they’re listening; their CEO has posted an apology on their blog.
:^)
(POsted elsewhere, too. thought it was appropriate here as well.)
Who’s the spammer?
Are you blaming MSN because your-buddy@msn.com sent you their new telephone number?
*YOUR* friends *TOLD* Plaxo to send *YOU* a message with their contact information. *PLAXO* did not make this choice for *YOUR FRIENDS*.
There is absolutely no difference between recieving your friend’s information update directly from them and recieving it from Plaxo. That email is sent *BY YOUR FRIENDS* though Plaxo. It’s just an automated e-mail service.
Imagine this: a plug-in for Outlook that will send your contact info out to everyone in your Outlook Contacts list every time you update your personal contact info. So you don’t have to do it yourself. So it’s automatic. LIKE A COMPUTER IS SUPPOSED TO BE!
You people are bitching just to bitch. Grow Up.
PS – I’m a Plaxo user. I used Plaxo to send my updated address, phone number, and work information to a *SELECT LIST* of friends, not everyone. As a good citizen, I also sent a second email to my friends directly from myself telling them that the Plaxo e-mail is from me and that from time-to-time they might get another if I change my phone number, move to a new apartment, get a new e-mail address, or whatever.
Some friends deleted the email, even though it is from my address. Paranoid, some even called me to tell me that I had a virus on my computer. I straightened them out and taught them the difference between spam and a friend using a service to automate some functions.
hi, i just signed up with plaxo and spammed my friends! I send monthly newsletters to a contact list of around 2000. Does anyone know of a good program that will let me do this. I use thunderbird and I have to limit each mail to 100 recipients.
c
We use emailbrain.com for erratic email newsletters. I think most people here would only now use blogs but part of the world still works on email newsletters. It is a paid for service but is reasonably simple and has some templates etc. I think there are several such services around.
Dear ,
You may be surprised to receive this letter from me since you do not know me personally,I am Tony Malala ,the first son of MR WERTY Malala, who was recently murdered in the land dispute in Zimbabwe. I was furnished with viable information from the INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE here in Johannesburg and decided to contact you. Before the death of my father,he had taken me to Johannesburg to deposit the sum of 15 million United States Dollars($15.000.000.00)in a security company as if he foresaw the looming danger in Zimbabwe.
This amount was meant for the purchase of new machines and chemicals for the farm and establishment of a new farm in Swaziland.
This land problem came when the President of Zimbabwe MR ROBERT MUGABE introduced a new Land Act which wholly affected the rich white and black farmers.
This resulted to the killing and mob action by the Zimbabwean war veterans and some lunatics in the society. Infact, a lot of people have been killed because of this land-reformed act of which my father was one of the victims.
It is against this background,that my family and I, who are currently staying in South Africa decided to transfer my father’s money to a foreign account since the law of South Africa prohibits a refugee (asylum seeker) to open any bank account or to be involved in any financial transaction. As the eldest son of my father I am saddled with the responsibility of seeking a genuine foreign account into which this money could be transferred to, without the knowledge of my government who are bent on taking everything we have got, and South Africa seems to be playing along with them.
I am faced with the dilemma of investing this amount of money in South Africa for fear of going through the same experience in the future since both counties have the same political history.
More so, the South Africa Foreign Exchange policy does not allow such investment as an asylum seeker. As a businessman, I have to entrust my future and of my family in his hands, I must let you know that this transaction is risk free.
If you accept to assist me and my family, all I want you to do is to make arrangements and come to Johannesburg, South Africa, so that you can open a non-resident account which will aid us in transferring the money into any account you will nominate overseas.
This money I intend to use for investment. I have two options for you, firstly, you can choose to have a certain percentage of the money for nominating your account for this transaction, or you can go into partnership with me for the proper profitable investment of the money in your country.
Whichever the options you want, feel free to notify me.
I have also mapped out 10% of this money for all kinds of expenses incurred in the process of this transation.
If you do not prefer a partnership, I am willing to give you 20% of the money while the remaining 70% will be for my investment in your country. Contact me through my e-mail address as here indicated (chris_malulu_8@yahoo.com) while I implore you to maintain secrecy required in this transaction.
And no matter the level of transaction we are in, You must keep this business secret and confidential Please as I wouldn’t want anything that could make my family lose this money.
God bless you for your assistance.
Yours faithfully,
MR. Tony Malala.
I interviewed at Plaxo, 3 times, for a total of 10 hours. I got to a point where I was talking to the co-CEO’s and they were asking me various questions. Finally they asked if I had any questions. Well… various people had told me they had a “master plan” for revenue they had yet to implement into their business. At this point I felt it was fair to ask what that was. Here it is folks, what you’ve been waiting for….
What could a company that has information about when your address and phone numbers do with this. Who would be interested in your address changing the moment it happens?
Answer: All those sick bastards that use tradional forms of spam in your mail, credit card offers, magazine subscriptions, and the like. The reasoning is these companies use various sources to find your address, which may cost $0.90 to get. Plaxo can get these changes of addresses to these companies sooner and for less money, undercutting the existing methods, in turn saving these companies a significant amount of money.
This was the master plan, this is why beyond everything that everyone knows about Plaxo is why I will not put their software on my computer.
There’s always a chance to get something good from email spam: if you read the subject and think of it as idea for popular content website, it might become a source of some profit
“As of last week, we’ve past 10 million members. ”
They don’t even know how to spell “passed.”