>It was clearly a form letter, but mail sent to ADSM-L subscribers probing for
>interest in TSM contracting is hardly indiscriminate spam.  If she did even a
>little evaluation of who to send to, who not...  well, those who yelled at her
>are then dead-wrong, in addition to being rude.

The message wasn't sent to the list, individuals were identified and
spammed, unsolicited.  Rude is having the gall to ask other people to do
your job for you.

>When I spoked to Tina, I teased her (politely) about trying to make the form
>letter seem personal.  She was very concerned about the impact of her
>questions, and wanted to reach likely folks without irritating anyone.

If she was 'very concerned', she should have known it was the wrong thing
to do.  At least there's some hope for her.

>I told her to talk to the listmaster: some lists are open to occasional,
>low-key openings notifications, some lists are rabidly against it.  Clearly
>our readership is too prickly for even a relatively careful, thoughtful,
>polite probe.

I'm not sure what list policy is.  But the list wasn't used.  eMail
addresses were harvested from the group or web site.

>So I leave you with two questions:
>
>1) Why are backup admins testy this way?  Is this an overflow of the technical
>   paranoia which is our stock-in-trade?

Personally, I was annoyed by many things.

I signed up on this list for one purpose - to help and be helped by my
peers with issues regarding ADSM/TSM.  I didn't sign up for a job bank.
Many job-hunt web sites exist for this purpose.  Recruiters should use them.

The letter was written to appear personal, but it clearly was not.  While
not clearly dishonest, it's pretty damn sleazy.

There is no 'job' or 'project'.  The letter was so inspecific and broad, it
was clearly an attempt to fatten her portfolio of potential.  Sadly, I
suspect it worked for her, despite how misleading and suspect the letter
was, simply because she was brown-nosing.

>2) If a polite (if somewhat sycophantic) initial contact makes us mad, what
>   kind of contact would be welcome?

In my opinion, none.  If you're looking for work, post your resume on one
of the multitude of job banks available on the internet -- I got my last
job through one, and it was discreet, confidential, and extremely
effective.  If you're looking for workers, suck it up and pay the price
that services like <insert popular job bank here> are charging.

I suppose this sort of evil is inevitible on a public list.  If I were to
make any suggestions (don't know if I'm contradicting list policy here):
Post to the list with a clarly labelled subject that you are a recruiter
looking for individuals interested in SPECIFIC, REAL jobs, with details on
where, when, what, and how much.  If you're a recruiter, it's your job to
filter the wheat from the chaff.

... or maybe I'm just a dick.  =)

-JD.
>
>
>- Allen S. Rout