I’m on PCA’s email list. When you click ‘More”….

[Grady Clay]

I’m on PCA’s email list.
When you click ‘More”…. I copied this shortcut:

http://strongmail.multiview.com/track?type=click&mailingid=199899028&messageid=199899028&databaseid=Mailing.DS149986.199899028.122&serial=12451329966&emailid=g911clay@hotmail.com&userid=21332996&extra=&&&2020&&&http://multibriefs.com/ViewLink.php?i=4e2445494764cb

What does this mean?
The link appears to contain my email address and more.
(I changed some characters to render the link invalid.)

I was intending to post a link about Porsche’s restoration of a ‘72T coupe but the link seems to contain a lot more personal info than I’m willing to post.
What’s up?

Best,
Grady

[Jim Richards]

Hey Grady, send Vu Nguyen (PCA Exec Director) an email about this. His email address is admin@pca.org . Vu is a great guy and very helpful.

[Zeke]

This is what I see at the link:

"PHP Warning: mssql_fetch_assoc(): supplied argument is not a valid MS SQL-result resource in E:\DFS_Shares\MultiBriefs\ViewLink.php on line 35"

[Grady Clay]

Jim,

Thanks, email sent.

I would like to hear from some independent IT professionals as to what this is all about.
When I click “More” it seems to route me via a personally identifiable system.
Is that so?

I’m not sure I’m happy with this.

Best,
Grady

[Grady Clay]

Milt,

I changed the characters in the link so it is not valid (and doesn’t represent any of my personal info).
If you can decipher this, I’ll email you the un-molested link.

This came as a personal email from PCA, with my authorization.
It seems that when I click a link within that email, included in that URL address are my personal information (email address, PCA member number and more).
Why would that be necessary for anyone else (like the linked news service) need to know that?

I will reserve speculation until I hear back from Vu Nguyen or one of the club’s IT guys.

What I’m looking for on the Forum is some professional interoperation of what is going on here.
Is this a marketing ‘deal’ to give someone my email address (and other – like Porsche owner)?
This may have much wider implications on how I use the internet.
Clearly, inspecting the ‘shortcut’ link data has given me some cautious insight.
Perhaps I should decipher every link and enter a site directly (what info goes with a Google link? My 1-click?)

Best,
Grady

[stomachmonkey]

Email campaigns are always tracked.

It's done so they can gauge effectiveness.

On the back end one can see how many were delivered, bounced, read, opened and if there are embedded links how many recipients followed the link/s.

I can always tell when my wife has been shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond by the number and frequency of the coupons that show up in the mailbox.

The coupons have a barcode that identifies her so whenever she uses one they send her more.

[Steve Viegas]

Strongmail is an e-mail campaign company. They create software that other companies use to create e-mail blasts. Originally, these e-mail companies just had lists of addresses that they would send e-mails too. Now, the companies have gotten very sophisticated and are able to track you after you click on their links.

They want to know who you are when you click on the link. This is there way of tracking what is of interest to you. They will be able to cater their ads specifically to your interests.

[Grady Clay]

So….
I guess the question is:
What is PCA getting out of this (non-disclosed) relationship and how am I being abused?
Is this what fills my junkmail inbox?
I guess this will force me to never again click on a link without examining the ‘shortcut’.
I wonder if there is an app that can screen for me?

Clearly, I’m going to address the issue with MY PCA.
MY PCA has become so sensitive to anyone having access to member communication, they no longer publish ‘member lists’ for our use to talk to each other.
If, on the other hand, the club is selling (links) to 3rd parties without my consent – something is very wrong.

I want to know.
Email to my friend Lenord Turner forthcoming.

Best,
Grady

[Steve Viegas]

PCA is paying strongmail for the service. I assume PCA has a privacy policy in place that does not allow them to sell this information to anyone.

The abuse will come in a more targeted advertising. They will push advertisement towards you for things that you have shown interest in. I do not believe you will find it anymore abusive than it was before.

It is funny though. I was looking for VOIP servers a few months ago. I clicked on a few links and now all of the advertising that the internet provides me is for VOIP server services. For the week it took me to make my decision it was great. Now I find it funny as my decision has been made and the check has been written but no one has told the advertisers. Amazon is the same.

[87turbolook911]

Emailed the below to you as well:

Hi Grady,

The “tracking link” is there to provide PCA a better understanding of what articles members find interesting. Rest assured that your information and well as the information we learn from the tracking link is for PCA use only. Our bylaws and privacy policy do not allow use to sell our members information to a third party, nor would we ever want to do so.

We keep close guard of members information as we do our own personal information. If you are still uncomfortable, we can certainly unsubscribe you to the newsletter.

Should you have additional questions, feel free to call me at 410-381-0911.

Best regards,
Vu

[john70t]

Once your personal information is "out there"......it's out there.

My girlfriend and I once dropped off a bunch of stuff to a local PTO(parent/teacher org) thrift-shop. We like to donate usable stuff to worthy causes, instead of trashing it.
1). She wrote down her name with e-mail on a clipboard out of habit.
2). The following week we recieved 2 identical letters sent to our address.
-One was adressed to "PTO thriftshop".
-One was adressed to "Starmark Hotels".

Same thing happened after the closing on the house: One week later, I recieved tons of junk mail with my name one it.
The only entities which could connect this data was the title-company, and the two realtor companies involved.

[Craig]

Grady,

This one sentence in the note from Vu says it all :
"If you are still uncomfortable, we can certainly unsubscribe you to the newsletter."

You should not have to unsubcribe to keep your privacy. They should only need to know that link was clicked, not who clicked it.

Kind of makes me glad I am not a PCA member...

Best,
Craig

[RWebb]

you need a fake persona

set up a throw away free Email address for it and put down some other phone # (I often use my fax # - it's fun to think about what they hear when they spam call it)

for a name, I suggest Clady Gray

[Grady Clay]

Vu,

Thanks for also responding on this Forum.
My original question was more technical.
I am still interested how this “tracking link” works.
It doesn’t appear (to lame ol’ me) that it only goes to PCA and how it is used.

Why is it that the editors of the newsletter need this information?
Competent editors for decades produced great material without this intrusive feedback.
Betty Jo didn’t need reporting to produce a great Pano.
Is this just laziness or ‘if you can, you do’ expending club (my) money?

It seems counterintuitive that the Club has quit having ‘Membership lists’ that were very useful contacting other members while simultaneously instigating the (1984-like) ability to know what I read.
Our Regional membership list was very useful because I could search “Fred” and “red” “930” to find who I had just been talking to.
If I don’t get an email address, the contact is lost. Poor Club management.

I understand the argument against publishing lists.
The counter-argument is these are voluntary listings.


John, I agree with ‘out there’.
If I had known the search-ability on my name, I would have used a pseudonym.
My problem was my name was so easily recognized in the Porsche community.
If you Google ‘Grady Clay’; you get me, my dad (the author) and Mohamed Ali’s mom (my great…grandfather was Senator Cassius Marcellus Clay).


Craig, I disagree.
I have belonged to RMR-PCA since May 1968.
I have never for one moment regretted my membership.
In fact I can’t understand ANY Porsche owner not belonging to OUR little ‘club’.
Yes – OUR. We, the members, run the club. Vu volunteers his time.
If we don’t like it, we change it.

I’m not attacking PCA, I’m finding information.
If this turns out to be an unnecessary and intrusive practice, I’m sure we can ‘adjust’ the situation.
PCA is a membership club, run by the members.
The members are us.

Craig, join in. RMR-PCA is great.


Randy, I'd like to try. I suspect unsucessful.

Best,
Glady

[judiths]

Hello,

My name is Judith. I am the Community Manager at StrongMail. I am posting my comment to clarify that StrongMail has never been in the email list business and we do not send email campaigns on behalf of our customers. We provide companies the software and infrastructure solutions to send email communications to the subscribers that have opted in to receive them.

In line with email marketing best practices, we advocate for our customers to organically growing their email file and respect their subscribers privacy, data and opt-in choices.

Steve is correct that email marketing technology has become more sophisticated over time. Our solution, as well as other ESP's, provide metrics and analytics about subscribers engaging in email campaigns. In turn, companies leverage this data to better understand the interests and preferences of their subscribers, helping them develop more relevant email communications for their subscribers and improve overall brand-to-customer relationships.

Thanks,
Judith

Originally Posted by Steve Viegas

Strongmail is an e-mail campaign company. They create software that other companies use to create e-mail blasts. Originally, these e-mail companies just had lists of addresses that they would send e-mails too. Now, the companies have gotten very sophisticated and are able to track you after you click on their links.

They want to know who you are when you click on the link. This is there way of tracking what is of interest to you. They will be able to cater their ads specifically to your interests.