Death and (Email) Taxes
There comes a point in any discussion where it suffers from photon death, for lack of a better term. The discussion, of course, continues long after this point, but it is going to remain limited to something that generates nothing but heat.
We have cliches for this, of course. “Generates more heat than light.” “Beating a dead horse.” You probably know more, but you get the picture.
You also probably already know the kinds of discussion that denigrate to this point. Religion. Politics. I find it amusing that the two things that generate the most discussions which quickly shake down into discussions suffering from photon death are the two that it’s said Benjamin Franklin said are the two sure things in life: Death and Taxes.
Now in the long post-mortem of the EFF and MoveOn.org‘s attempt to interject themselves into America Online‘s freedom to contract with third parties that’s better known as “DearAOL.com” it is now my turn to try to interject some light into the heat. It’s now been a month and three days since AOL flipped the switch on for Goodmail clients to send mail that bypasses their filters.
Since I work for an Email Service Provider (Informz) that caters mainly to non-profit organizations, I think I have a pretty good handle on where things stand at T + 34 days. So…where do things stand? Exactly where they stood 35 days ago.
That’s right. Exactly where they stood 35 days ago. Our delivery rates to AOL have not noticeably changed. When one of our clients does something stupid, they end up on a 24 hour block, just like they did before. When they do the right thing, they get delivered. To the recipient’s Inbox, no less.
I’m the point of contact with AOL’s people. I haven’t gotten any demands that we pay Goodmail to use their imprinter. I haven’t even gotten any hints that we should. Further, I’ve publicly stated that we don’t really see Goodmail’s solution as a good fit for our clients — with Charles Stiles in the same room, doubtlessly listening as I spoke the words into a microphone in a California State Senate committee hearing room. Again, no penalty for my impudence.
So, what is all of this about? A search for relevance.
The EFF made its name with the Blue Ribbon campaign. Since then, you haven’t heard a lot out of them. “Dear AOL” was a good way for them to get their names in the papers and on blogs like this one. The problem is that they are just on the wrong side of this issue. They like to say that they’re in favor of innovation, but apparently, that’s only true until it makes more sense to pander to some “populist” paranoia about what someone’s contract might possibly mean for you — if everyone else in the world adopts it. And besides, it’s a sure way to get your name out there again appearing to stick up for the “little guy”.
MoveOn.org….what can I say about MoveOn.org? I’m an evil, conservative Republican. I’m predisposed to disbelieving anything that MoveOn.org says. But, they are also a group in search of relevance. They’re not very effective anymore. Yeah, they can raise money and they have a large following amongst the Angry Left, but they’re ineffective. Look at how well their candidates have done in recent elections. None of them have won. They’ve had some come close, but getting MoveOn.org on your side is akin to asking Bob Shrum to be your political strategist. I mean, John Kerry came close, but today he’s still the junior Senator from Massachusetts. Doing something a little more popular might help them out some as they try to ascertain why their candidates don’t win.
And this search for relevance is why they started the shrill talking about the death of email and the advent of email taxes. The lack of relevance found is why we’re a month into things and you’re not hearing about it anymore.
MickC @ June 12, 2006