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May 2009 
HOW TO: Minimize Your Zaadz-flavored "Spam"
~C4Chaos
Spam flavors I bought at the Spam Museum
Uploaded by jbenson2 on 25 Jun '06, 10.20pm PDT.
(Also posted on zPod:HOW TOs and FAQs)
Dear Zaadzsters,
Some of you have expressed concerns over receiving tons of unsolicited emails and messages from other fellow Zaadzsters. This is understandable. The more our network grows, the more pods we join, the more we can expect more messages (solicited or unsolicited) to flood our Zaadz inboxes as well as our personal emails. Spamming is a real cyber-wide problem.
However, here on Zaadz, most of the messages flooding our inboxes are mostly well-intentioned messages coming from uber-enthusiastic people or from users who are new to this Web 2.0 thing, who are not yet familiar with cyber-etiquette when it comes to messaging. So I ask your patience with these friends. Let's not blow our steam too soon. Instead let's try to guide them and help them to learn to communicate in a better way (e.g. you can link to this post and send it to them :)).
Now that we got that out of the way.... Here's a not so secret Zaadz secret. You've got control over your Zaadz messaging! Here's how to minimize unwanted emails and other messages.
Set Up Your Primary Email
Your primary email is the email that Zaadz will use to send you notifications and other announcements. You can set it up this way:
-- Click on My Account.
-- From the My Account page, click on Your Email Address(es).
-- On the Manage Email Address(es) screen, add your email address by typing it on the New Email Address box then click Add it. (note: you can add as many emails as you like.)
-- Once you've added your email address(es), click on Make Primary for the primary email address you want to use. This will make the selected email address the primary email address for all Zaadz messaging. Your primary email address is the default email addresses to be used by Zaadz for sending notifications. (Note: You can still select your non-primary email addresses on the notification setup screen. )
-- You can delete email addresses by clicking on Delete.
Manage Your Subcscriptions and Notifications
Once you've set up your primary email and/or added your other emails, the next step would be to customize and manage all your Zaadz subscription notifications. Zaadz makes this easy and straightforward. Here's how you do it:
-- Click on My Account.
-- On the My Account page, scroll down to the Subscriptions and Notifications section. From here you can control your pod, blogs, comments, and incoming mail notifications. Groovy. All of them are setup the same way so you can do the following steps for each subscription type.
-- Click on the type of subscription (e.g. "Pod Discussions").
-- On the Subscription Settings screen you'll see Email Address, Send Notifications, and Full Content columns. Go ahead and edit those columns to your liking.
Here's a suggestion: If you don't want to receive email notifications then just set the Send Notifications field to "Do Not Send Email" (this is the default). If you want to receive notifications such as comments, blogs, or specific pods, I recommend that you set the Send Notifications field to "Daily Digest" and check the Full Content column field. This way you'll only receive one notification per day for each notification type and you'll see the full contents of your messages on your personal email without having to go to your Zaadz inbox.
There. Piece of cake! So that's how you do it!
As for our uber-enthusiastic Zaadzsters sending messages here in there... Please let's keep the messaging to a minimum; especially the bulk messaging. Only send out "bulk emails" for really important stuff. Alternatively, for all other not-so important announcements and messages, I suggest that you post them on your pods (note: people who subscribed to your pods would receive them), or preferrably, blog them! Coz that's what blogs are for :)
Finally, just to let you know, we continue to explore ways to keep our Zaadz messaging "spams" to a minimum. We're working on some guidelines right now. We'd appreciate your help. Your suggestions are always welcome. Feel free to post them on our zPod:Thinktank.
That's all for now. Go ahead and customize your notifications so you can stay in the loop of your favorite bloggers, and pods, with style!
~C (for Customize your notifications to minimize your unwanted messages)
Access: Public
i would have to disagree strongly with those who are concened with the unsolicited mail.
i myself have received probably at least 10 invites/notiications of this nature in the past week or so and would like to say that it doesn't bother me at all. it is slightly upsetting that some members would refer to them as spam - i don't categorize them as such at all. in fact, it excites me that people are out there initiating projects, puttig themselves out there, practicing leadership, taking risks and starting the very difficult process of getting a ball moving. wouldn't they need our support more than anything else?!
i don't really mind if i'm not interested or currently unavailable to participate in something that someone is trying to generate momentum for. but if we're not here to support one another in our eforts to create positive change (as if it's not hard enough) then i have to ask, “WHAT ELSE ARE WE HERE FOR?”
(for the record, i myself have not sent out any of these messages, in case you're thinking that i'm simply writing this to defend my own activity.)
come on people, is it really that big a deal? this isn't b-grade porn or penis pumps or viagra shots or messages about the next great stock price. this is people in action and i think that they deserve better.
i would say that if anything, these are signs that this fledgling community is healthy and is inspiring individuals to act, whilst simultaneously creating a hive-like sense of communal direction and flow.
in the future, obviously it could come to the point where there might be many thousands
of participants here on zaadz and that the amount of unsolicited mail could grow out of proportion. to fend this off, might it be possible to have some sort of a “public page”, where others may try to gain the eyes and attention of fellow zaadzsters through promoting new pods/initiatives/self-authored books/art for sale/etc. ? and i would certainly have this kind of page linked to everyone's homepage for easy access. i want to find out about what other people are doing, and i want it made easy for me to do so. i have a few more ideas on this, but will leave it foranother time.
i would definitely take a few notes from rommel's instructions regarding setting up email notifications n' all, if one hasn't already done so. i myself have an email account to which i receive all mail generated from sources that i deem communal/cultural activity - being the integral geek that i am, it is lowerleft.eric@gmail.com - and every time that i open that box, i know exactly what it is that i am about to receive, and if i'm not in the mood, i don't go there. simple as that. hell, with all of the email accounts available out there, one could dedicate an entire email address to just zaadz mail.
ok, i'll shut up now. that's about three cents worth…..maybe four.
well said bro. and cool tip on setting up emails just for receiving cool community stuff :)
“in the future, obviously it could come to the point where there might be many thousands of participants here on zaadz and that the amount of unsolicited mail could grow out of proportion. to fend this off, might it be possible to have some sort of a “public page”, where others may try to gain the eyes and attention of fellow zaadzsters through promoting new pods/initiatives/self-authored books/art for sale/etc. ?”
we're on it bro. we're on it :)
chefmystic, YOU ROCK!!! I feel quite similarly!
“when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” -WD
I choose to see the emails as passionate people who are helping fellow Zaadzsters, like Herbie does with advertising new pods that have entered their creative process… it's how we help empower others to LIVE TO THEIR HIGHEST POTENTIAL…
I know that I have purchased and received some very VALUABLE items through knowing about situations from pods and blogs here on Zaadz … I love being able to purchase with an intentional purpose of uplifting those around me!!! ~twist my arm to buy a book or shop for shoes~ HAHAHA!!! Seriously, there is so much that these Zaadzsters have to offer and it is WONDERFUL that other Zaazsters get excited enough to spread the seeds of Love!!!
and ~C4Chaos, thank you for the breakdown on settings use… I've been helping a few fellow Zaadzsters with this on a one-to-one basis…. now I have a link back!!!
now that's the attitude my dear friends! thanks for all your understanding, help, and patience. i'm sure that most people would view it this way :)
Hmm. I guess I've had one Zaadzster barrage me with e-mails re: an event. I acknowledged them for their enthusiasm, thanked them for thinking of me, asked if they had posted it on zEvents, and then politely asked that they only send e-mails of a personal nature to me in the future.
They were very gracious, loving, and absolutely only had the best intentions.
For the most part, I think it's like the advice I saw years ago about getting frustrated when people continually forward you e-mail jokes. The advice said, just think about how wonderful it is that the person was thinking of you, smile (whether you read the joke or not), and then move on.
Seemed like good advice to me.
Now, when I start getting e-mails on Zaadz re: Viagara or the stock market, then I'll know we've been seriously spammed!
(BTW - Interesting fact. Did you know that the food product Spam is actually poured into the cans in liquid form and then left to congeal in the can? Can you say “ewwww!”)
EWWWW! And people eat that stuff!?!?! Nauseous! =^X
Perhaps this post would serve best in the ThinkTank thread that’s on fire (conerning spam).
Good work ~C.
you mean this thread? :)
Nancy said: “(BTW - Interesting fact. Did you know that the food product Spam is actually poured into the cans in liquid form and then left to congeal in the can? Can you say “ewwww!”)”
thanks. i just had Spam for breakfast. yum! :P