Rambles Along the EDGE

Isn’t that nice.

I frequently receive emails telling me that I’ve been added. My friends and business associates are using Plaxo Pulse to keep in touch with their contacts and they want to add me as a friend. Again, nice.

The good news is that since I am already a Plaxo member, I just need to sign in with my AIM Screen name to accept my connection.

It all sounds great! I like my friends. And I’m glad that they have found a tool they like. Their emails go into a special folder where I can see who sent it before I delete it.  I haven’t the heart to tell them that I think it’s foolish.

For those of you who don’t know, Plaxo is an information sharing service which helps keep people connected by solving the common and, adminitedly, frustrating problem of out-of-date contact information. Users and their contacts store their information on Plaxo’s servers. The idea is that when a user edits their own information, the changes appear in the address books of all those who listed the user in their own address books. Because contacts are stored in a central location, it’s possible to list connections between contacts and access the address book from anywhere.

It sounds like a wonderful idea. It really does. So much so that, several years ago, I signed up for the Plaxo service. It was going to be great! The problems, however, started immediately.

Can you say SPAM?! Plaxo wanted to take over my address book. It immediately wanted to send out emails to every single person in my address book inviting them to join Plaxo. Huh? I get enough unsolicited email. Why would I want to bombard my friends or my business associates? Plaxo harrassed me until I finally removed it from my computer. I tried to cancel my account with Plaxo. If it is posible to do so, I was unable to easily discover the secret. I still have my account apparantly.

Seems to me that a more sensible method would be to have my information on Plaxo’s server. My friends can also have their own information on Plaxo’s server. If we each have the other in our respective address book, we can choose to release any updates to the other.  No SPAM! Just a simple exchange of information between friends, but through an intermediary. High Technology as it’s meant to be. Nice!  

Then again, why would I want some company routinely pulling personal data from my computer? I go to great lengths to prevent that from happening. I have anti-virus software, firewalls, SPAM filters, etc. My life would be a lot simpler if I didn’t need them and didn’t have them using computer resources and generally slowing things down. I am not going to use a ’service’ which does the same thing that I’m trying to prevent.

I’m told that Plaxo has changed. That it is now possible to control who gets SPAMMED and who doesn’t. it’s easier to opt out. I suppose it’s possible. Am I going to let a child molester babysit my granddaughter because he’s changed?

I’m still getting the SPAM from my friends.

Zane Melder EDGE Books Kentwood, LA