On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 11:58:04 -0600, Chad Walstrom <chewie at wookimus.net> wrote:

> Oh, by all gods large and small, here it is...  To sign up, you must
> subscribe their newsletter to the list

Not true, you can also post it to the website or some other shared
resource.  You could also create a group (oreilly-spam?) and post it
there, for those who wanted to read it.  Spamming the list is an
option, but not the only option.

> Additionally, they have not used the mailman
> "topics" feature to label it as "advertisement".

TCWUG doesn't, but that doesn't mean you can't.  If TCLUG optioned to
spam the list, it could be done in a way that procmail can filter.

> Please do not cave in to this request, or if you do, place the crappy
> advertisement newsletter on another list.  IMHO, newsletters should be
> sent out to INDIVIDUALS, not lists, on a subscription basis only.

Again, an option.  O'Reilly doesn't ask you to annoy the crap out of
people, if that's what you think they do.

> >     * review copies of O'Reilly products
> >     * donations of books and other promo items

> Yay.  How gracious a trade off for voluntary SPAM.

I hope you're being sarcastic.  The O'Reilly people are awesome to
work with and very accomodating.  O'Reilly doesn't tell you to force
anything at anyone, just make their newsletters available.  What
O'Reilly gives away FAR exceeds what they ask.  Need some free crap
for a meeting?  Just ask, O'Reilly will send you whatever you want. 
Want a free book?  Ask for it, write a review, and submit it back to
O'Reilly.  They are a very forgiving company and want to support LUGs
in any way they can.  Every so often I get a box of free books that I
didn't ask for, how cool is that?

By all means, I think every LUG should be an O'Reilly affiliate.

-Brian