Trumpia sucks.

Thank you for your comments but I don’t think we can use much of it since Trumpia doesn’t make phone calls. So all the DNC stuff doesn’t really apply at all. So we can’t really announce an advert from Yoyodyne before we connect a call because we don’t have any calling features. (Maybe you check out the wrong site?)

Also we aren’t a social network either.

And there are a million other ways people can contact you if they had your email, phone number, and screen name. And how many address books on gmail, yahoo, or hotmail did you ever opt-in for? Or phone books on people’s cell phones did you opt in for? And if they wanted to spam you they would and you would have to deal with each one individually. At least if someone tried to spam you with Trumpia you could stop them from reaching you on all modes in one step WITHOUT even signing up.

Or maybe you’re talking about someone who you actually gave your contact info in the first place and then realized it was a mistake? One thing you could do is not pass out your private contact info in the first place. Just give them your Trumpia ID or Trumpia email (soon to be released) and then you can know if he tries to contact you. After receiving some messages and realizing you made a mistake and don’t want to be contacted then just block him with one command from your phone, IM, or web. He won’t even know you blocked and he’ll keep sending away and you won’t get a thing.

Anyways, I could ramble on but I doubt you’ll read this anyways since it didn’t seem like you really even read what our site was about so I’ll stop here.

But if you do decide to actually check out our site and give us some feedback we could use then that will be very welcome! Check it out in a couple weeks for our next release has some very important features we’ve been working on for some time now, but it may also reduce some of the things you could possibly bash us about. =)

If I want to opt in to a list, that’s one thing. But if I don’t want to answer your call, well, calling me everywhere approximates the definition of rude. The communication devices I use are to serve me, and not to annoy me. Here, Trumpia appears little more than an enabler of automated rudeness marketing its services those simply too lazy to be manually rude.

As for enhancements, there’s already an opt-out list of us curmudgeons and luddites available, too. It’s called the Do Not Call (DNC) list. Yep, your lawyers might make the case your service isn’t covered by the DNC. Conversely, you might well want to steer clear of the curmudgeons already on that list without an explicit opt-in from your target. And I’m not talking about your site calling or SMS’ing me with an “Ok if we call you?”; that’s a spammer gambit and an opt-out system.

As for mis-use, one of the previous holders of one of my telephone numbers was apparently known to various collection agencies. Two years of very regular calls from these fine folks. I can just imagine how much use bill collectors will make of Trumpia — or what happens when some user enters the wrong telephone number somewhere.

Oh, and the last thing I need is a TJX-style data exposure error or a privacy policy change at some site collecting this sort of data. But then that data collection process is certainly part of what you’re here for — to collect and then sell data, and to sell ads. “Hello, here’s your call from John Smallberries, but first an advert from Yoyodyne…”

As for related offerings, these are legion. The Demon Dialer comes to mind. The old 500 “follow-me” telephone services have some similar aspects, though those did fail some years ago.

Consider me massively skeptical.

And consider this my notice of opt-out from your service.

Well I’ve removed the links and maybe this at least will post.

Michael can you check the posting that is awaiting moderation for the screen shots? Thanks.

Anyways here’s what I wrote in that posting:

Please note that this is our beta and we still have some key features to add. We are in the process of introducing spam control and Blast permissions. We will also re-introduce cascading delivery of messages so that you get it via mobile text only if you aren’t online. Most importantly, we plan to add more features to prevent mis-use of our site along with some additional usability improvements.

So while we are working on finishing up the rest of our key features, we started marketing to college clubs and organizations since they can benefit right away with what we have so far.

Anyways, I hope these screenshots clarify some mis-information and show that we have thought about the issues you mentioned and that we have, are, and will continue to work on those issues.

We never ever wanted our service to be used to spam or annoy people nor intended the site to be interpreted in the way we are described in your article.

I hope you see that our objective actually is to tackle and ultimately overcome the very issues you brought up like spam, privacy, etc. while bringing together the benefits of today’s communication tools. Developing the website and software is easy, it’s making it safe, convenient, and useful that’s hard and worth shooting for. =)

Thanks =)

Think of it like this, if someone adds your email address to their address book in outlook or gmail account, does it let you know that they did? If someone adds your phone number to their phone, does it let you know? If someone adds your screen name on (most) instant messengers can you prevent that? With current email systems and phones you have even less control on who can add you to their address book or phone book.

At least with trumpia, you get notified as soon as people try to add you to their contact list. And you can remove yourself from their contact list unlike all the other tools right now.

We will also be releasing our permissions feature set soon which gives user control on who can blasts or not. Of course this includes a much more enhanced blocking list and safe list than we currently have and even better than those found in most email systems.

We’re currently planning our next stage of development so any other cool ideas to help make this tool more useful is welcome~!

Thanks for all the comments. =)

I don’t think this supports HTML so I guess I’ll just put the links here to the screen shots.

The first screenshot is the notification I would get when someone adds me to his/her contact list. There is a remove link on the bottom of the email. See second from the bottom.

http://trumpia.com /addnotice.jpg

The second screenshot is the page that appears when the remove link is clicked. This removes me from the contact list.

http://trumpia.com /removenonmember.jpg

Please note that this is our beta and we still have some key features to add. We are in the process of introducing spam control and Blast permissions. We will also re-introduce cascading delivery of messages so that you get it via mobile text only if you aren’t online. Most importantly, we plan to add more features to prevent mis-use of our site along with some additional usability improvements.

So while we are working on finishing up the rest of our key features, we started marketing to college clubs and organizations since they can benefit right away with what we have so far.

Anyways, I hope these screenshots clarify some mis-information and show that we have thought about the issues you mentioned and that we have, are, and will continue to work on those issues.

We never ever wanted our service to be used to spam or annoy people nor intended the site to be interpreted in the way we are described in your article.

I hope you see that our objective actually is to tackle and ultimately overcome the very issues you brought up like spam, privacy, etc. while bringing together the benefits of today’s communication tools. Developing the website and software is easy, it’s making it safe, convenient, and useful that’s hard and worth shooting for. =)

Thanks =)

Anything opt-out is assumed spam until proven otherwise.

This tool and all similar tools are assumed spam. Or tools for harassment.

Use this tool to contact me, and you will never have to contact me again. If in a charitable mood, I will find you, and I will explain to you in great detail why you screwed up, and why you will now remove me from anything to do with the tool. If in a less charitable mood or cases of a more flagrant (mis)use, I will contact legal authorities.

Oh, and “blasting me” does cost me money. Cellular minutes are still not free. And then there’s the time. And my concentration. And the annoyance factor.

If there’s a true crisis, call my (other) number. 911. If you can explain to the nice sheriff’s dispatcher why I should be roused by the local constabulary, then you have a sufficiently good reason for contacting me.

Change this over to verified opt-in and I might change my opinion. Might.

I am not legally trained, but here is my answer as someone responsible for the site.

1) The service is currently free of charge. We don’t ask for any payment information. Normal text message rates apply from your own mobile operator, but TRUMPIA does not charge you. Nor do we get any payback from your mobile carrier. In fact, we PAY for your SMS message. Everytime you use our service, I am paying for you. The term allows us a flexibility for those users sending large amounts of traffic that was not meant for the site’s original intention. I don’t have any timeframe in mind, nor do I know at this point we will turn it on yet. This is a beta service and I am learning from the crowd. Anybody using it for casual social use occasionally would not be subjected to this. Since some of you are concerned about spam abuses, this charge system eventually will immediately stop them. We see so many abuses with email because it is free even to large traffic users. Imagine spammers are charged and they will stop. We have other features under development that will stop spam too.

2) I agree that the wording needs to change. The wording was actually meant for public content such as your profile picture that everybody sees. Later on, we have social networking features that we may turn on. It involves users uploading photos or files for PUBLIC consumption. This CERTAINLY does NOT include your private messages. In no way, we will possibly post your messages to any public page. It is not any different than if you send a message via Gmail or Facebook.

3) Again, I apologize that tihs is referring to only publicly posted information, which there is none at Trumpia today other than your name, profile, photo, etc. I am sure nobody will post someone else’s private information in public profiles. This would be the same for AIM, Gmail, Yahoo, etc.

By the way, I agree now more so than before. I did not see the possible extent of the abuse that some of you pointed out.

We were thinking about several ways to stop aubses. One of the ways was to monitor traffic patters and user blocking / removal and comments, etc.

Ken

I have a few questions about your terms of use. Without answers to these questions, I certainly can’t in good conscience recommend the service to my friends.

http://www.trum.../termsofuse.php

1) “The Service includes certain services that are available via your mobile phone, including (i) the ability to receive and reply to Message Blasts and Event Blasts (collectively the “Mobile Services”). Trumpia does not charge the recipients of these Blasts, but does charge the SENDERS.”

There isn’t anything at all on your site about costs of use. Will these be prominantly displayed, and if so, when?

2) What are our rights concerning messages we send through the service (via email, txt, or to our contacts via the website)? I’m quite surprised to read that they aren’t spelled out clearly.

According to your terms of use, they are User Content, and Trumpia has all rights regarding User Content:

“User Content Posted On the Site: You are solely responsible for the photos, profiles, messages, notes, text, information, music, video, files, advertisements and other content that you upload, publish or display (hereinafter, “post”) on or through the Service or the Site, or transmit to or share with other Users (collectively the “User Content”). [...]

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire.

3) The User Conduct section says users may not: “upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make publicly available on the Site any private information of any third party, including, without limitation, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers;”

Either this is badly worded, or we aren’t allowed to use your service to send contact information?

And there are far too many attention whore teenagers that think that everything they say is super important and everyone needs to know ASAP.

Just like Plaxo, I think the potential for abuse is too great.

I also thank those who have left us NEGATIVE comments because I can see where we are weak and where our service can be vulnerable. I already have new features in our drawing board to prevent those outcomes and stop the legit worries. We may be stupid but we are honest! Please give us a benefit of doubt that we are not evil-minded. If you get to know the team here, we are really allright. We value integrity more than smarts or even money. We do a lot of charity work and Trumpia is perfect for that too.

And, of course, I love people with positive comments. All positive comments are exactly why we started this service. Wow. I could not have explained it any better myself. We wanted to bring families, friends, great social acquaintances together for better fellowship and better lives. I guess a knife can be misused, or emails / phones have problems, and I know Trumpia can be misused. But we all need those unfortunately.

P.S. I just wanted to let Michael know that we posted a screenshots of our service showing where we allow non-users to opt-out, but for some reason the post has not shown on this page for over 15 hours. I wonder if our post is blocked or the screenshot we included via link is not allowed. Since we could not copy and paste the screenshots, we included links in our post. Please give us another way or email address where we can sen the screenshots to.

Thank you ALL!

If any one of my friends ever mistakenly enters my contact information on this site, I will deliver bodily harm unto them. Hopefully they all learned from the Plaxo fiasco.

Lastly, you can’t call cell phones, anyways, per the FCC…
http://ftp.fcc....cellphones.html

……

I understand the concern that people have with spam but … Perhaps if people would actually read the comments from Ken, Derek and David, they would realize the purpose of the Trumpia and that if you have a problem with it you can remove your name quickly via one link.
Just to reiterate, the people who are contacting you already have your information. If they are annoying you, perhaps it is your poor judgement for giving them your information in the first place, not the technology tool that those persons are using to contact you.

I think that this is a great idea with many, many potential GOOD applications. From social groups, grassroots political organizing, coaches of sports teams, receiving the traffic to families contacting each other in times of emergency.I wish Trumpia the best of luck!

The threshold of effort required is significantly lowered by the service, screwing up the cost benefit analysis. That’s it, it is very easy for Billy now to decide that something is worth bringing to Jane’s attention at this low cost.

I am sure, services like that will be outlawed in the near future.

A friend who harasses me by three modes of communication is three times more annoying than a friend who harasses me through only one. But a friend who harasses me through one is already slated to be an “ex-friend” so I really don’t see the problem. Just yesterday I had an issue where I had to quickly get a hold of three people to tell them that a meeting location had changed. I didn’t know if at that moment they would be closer to a phone or computer. Trumpia would have been cool for that. On the other hand, it happens infrequently enough for me that it is unlikely that I’d sign up for Trumpia.

And these people who don’t understand how their phone numbers get into the hands of the ‘wrong’ people clearly have never worked in the direct marketing industry. It’s ALL out there if you’re willing to pay for it. Yes, even your cell phone numbers.

I don’t think this supports HTML so I guess I’ll just put the links here to the screen shots.

The first screenshot is the notification I would get when someone adds me to his/her contact list. There is a remove link on the bottom of the email. See second from the bottom.

http://trumpia.com/ addnotice.jpg

The second screenshot is the page that appears when the remove link is clicked. This removes me from the contact list.

http://trumpia.com/ removenonmember.jpg

Please note that this is our beta and we still have some key features to add. We are in the process of introducing spam control and Blast permissions. We will also re-introduce cascading delivery of messages so that you get it via mobile text only if you aren’t online. Most importantly, we plan to add more features to prevent mis-use of our site along with some additional usability improvements.

So while we are working on finishing up the rest of our key features, we started marketing to college clubs and organizations since they can benefit right away with what we have so far.

Anyways, I hope these screenshots clarify some mis-information and show that we have thought about the issues you mentioned and that we have, are, and will continue to work on those issues.

We never ever wanted our service to be used to spam or annoy people nor intended the site to be interpreted in the way we are described in your article.

I hope you see that our objective actually is to tackle and ultimately overcome the very issues you brought up like spam, privacy, etc. while bringing together the benefits of today’s communication tools. Developing the website and software is easy, it’s making it safe, convenient, and useful that’s hard and worth shooting for. =)

Thanks =)