Seeking Tech Volunteers for Nonprofit Causes

Greetings,

My apologies if this message comes across as spam; it isn't meant to
be.

A group of colleagues and I have built a project to mobilize
technology volunteers for small nonprofit organizations, located at
http://www.codekindness.org . It's a simple technology, and simply
acts to link potential volunteers with individual projects. It's
nonprofit.

The first 15 projects have been posted by about 21 small organizations
both within, and outside of, the United States - and are all great
causes. For instance, many orgs have such rudimentary websites that
even a few minutes spent polishing their presence would be
significantly helpful.

With hope, some of you might be interested to help one or more of
these wonderful organizations with their technology needs, as a means
to helping them further their mission of social good.

Kindly check out the projects and, if interested, sign up to help.
Many thanks & all the best,
--Dave
http://www.codekindness.org

> Greetings,
>
> My apologies if this message comes across as spam; it isn't meant to
> be.
>
> A group of colleagues and I have built a project to mobilize
> technology volunteers for small nonprofit organizations, located at
> http://www.codekindness.org . It's a simple technology, and simply
> acts to link potential volunteers with individual projects. It's
> nonprofit.
>
> The first 15 projects have been posted by about 21 small organizations
> both within, and outside of, the United States - and are all great
> causes. For instance, many orgs have such rudimentary websites that
> even a few minutes spent polishing their presence would be
> significantly helpful.
>
> With hope, some of you might be interested to help one or more of
> these wonderful organizations with their technology needs, as a means
> to helping them further their mission of social good.
>
> Kindly check out the projects and, if interested, sign up to help.
> Many thanks & all the best,
> --Dave
> http://www.codekindness.org

Well, let's see here; since the abuse address for codekindness is at
coloquest.com, and since coloquest will not respond to spam reports, it
also hosts rent-a-coder, is fairly new to have so many comments on it
online, I see a lot of comments about "friends don't have to worry about
emailing multiple invitations for the same site", the graph at
http://www.robtex.com/ip/69.65.41.13.html, there is no brick/mortan
address, no phone number, no tos, no aup, and plenty of bad neighbors,
I'm going to say my opinion is that your post is indeed ... spam!
The above, and ... I managed to track it to other newsgroups and at
least one forum makes me even more sure. The German language sitting
behind the English is interesting since it's supposedly, according to
boss Crusoe, located in Mass.
A lot just plain smells bad. I did a little "safe snooping" too and
although I see plenty of requirements to provide full functioning code,
all source code, methods and documentation, I would have expected to
also see something about copyright and intellectual rights; in fact, the
site's pages aren't even copyrighted. The only copyright I saw was your
bossman's on some article he wrote.
It particularly irks me that you might be pilfering/profiting somehow
from non-profit sites and if you're willing to spam in the process, I
find your methods most abhorrant(sp?). I happen to work with several
non-profits, BTW. I can 't help but wonder what really happens to the
gratis code supplied for supposedly non-profit outfits around the world.
If I were to spend more than the 5 minutes or so that I spent I'll bet
there's a lot more to your story than I've touched on, too. Quit
spamming.
On the slight possibiity that you're legit and just ignorant, you
then seriously need some help with marketing before you go any further.
You could start by doing some reading here:
http://www.spamhaus.org/

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:26:56 -0700 (PDT), "dhcrusoe@gmail.com"
<dhcrusoe@gmail.com> wrote:

>Greetings,
>
>My apologies if this message comes across as spam; it isn't meant to
>be.
>
Yeah, but it is. Lamer.
--
gburnore at DataBasix dot Com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
How you look depends on where you go.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary L. Burnore | ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
.. | ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
Official .sig, Accept no substitutes. | ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
.. | ÝÛ 0 1 7 2 3 / Ý³Þ 3 7 4 9 3 0 Û³
Black Helicopter Repair Services, Ltd.| Official Proof of Purchase
================================================== =========================

Sigh.

Ok, I'll have to ask for some explanation on the spamhaus mention of
yours, my apologies. If you mean (re: the spam) the server that hosts
CodeKindness: The website is hosted on MediaLayer, which is
http://www.medialayer.com. Perhaps this was an unwise move?

If you mean the server by which I'm sending this e-mail, it's being
done from a desk at Citizen Schools, also in Boston (http://
www.citizenschools.org).

Yes; I have posted to exactly TWO forums, including PHPForums and
Devshed, both in the Website Critiques, to ask for assistance
developing the site. You can find those posts at these addresses, as
well as the full correspondence:

http://forums.devshed.com/website-critiques-89/
http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/inde...oard,10.0.html

Unfortunately, with a budget of $0, I simply can't afford banner ads;
which is why I've posted to this particular group.

This work is most definitely nonprofit, and the income model is
minimal at best. The hope was to provide funding for other development
work, for instance, see http://www.boolify.org.

In thinking this through, perhaps you might have suggestions about how
to, as you say, "clean up the operations"?

Many thanks for your comments, and please accept my apologies for what
you have mistaken as a spamming operation.

--Dave / CK
http://www.bitculture.org







On Aug 27, 11:56*pm, Gary L. Burnore <gburn...@databasix.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:26:56 -0700 (PDT), "dhcru...@gmail.com"
>
> <dhcru...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >Greetings,
>
> >My apologies if this message comes across as spam; it isn't meant to
> >be.
>
> Yeah, but it is. Lamer.
> --
> gburnore at DataBasix dot Com
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> * * * * * * * * * * How you look depends on where yougo.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Gary L. Burnore * * * * * * * * * * * | *ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
> . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *| *ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
> Official .sig, Accept no substitutes. | *ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
> . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *| *ÝÛ 0 1 7 2 3 / Ý³Þ 3 7 4 9 3 0 Û³
> Black Helicopter Repair Services, Ltd.| * * Official Proof of Purchase
> ================================================== =========================

Apologies to add a second reply, but I'm dearly disappointed that
something that I've worked hard to create for the common good has been
identified as spam. Would you kindly point out what you mean by
"German language" behind English?

Many thanks,
--Dave



On Aug 27, 5:40*pm, "Twayne" <nob...@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote:
> > Greetings,
>
> > My apologies if this message comes across as spam; it isn't meant to
> > be.
>
> > A group of colleagues and I have built a project to mobilize
> > technology volunteers for small nonprofit organizations, located at
> >http://www.codekindness.org. It's a simple technology, and simply
> > acts to link potential volunteers with individual projects. It's
> > nonprofit.
>
> > The first 15 projects have been posted by about 21 small organizations
> > both within, and outside of, the United States - and are all great
> > causes. For instance, many orgs have such rudimentary websites that
> > even a few minutes spent polishing their presence would be
> > significantly helpful.
>
> > With hope, some of you might be interested to help one or more of
> > these wonderful organizations with their technology needs, as a means
> > to helping them further their mission of social good.
>
> > Kindly check out the projects and, if interested, sign up to help.
> > Many thanks & all the best,
> > --Dave
> >http://www.codekindness.org
>
> Well, let's see here; since the abuse address for codekindness is at
> coloquest.com, and since coloquest will not respond to spam reports, it
> also hosts rent-a-coder, is fairly new to have so many comments on it
> online, I see a lot of comments about "friends don't have to worry about
> emailing multiple invitations for the same site", the graph athttp://www.robtex.com/ip/69.65.41.13.html, there is no brick/mortan
> address, no phone number, no tos, no aup, and plenty of bad neighbors,
> I'm going to say my opinion is that your post is indeed ... spam!
> * *The above, and ... I managed to track it to other newsgroups and at
> least one forum makes me even more sure. *The German language sitting
> behind the English is interesting since it's supposedly, according to
> boss Crusoe, located in Mass.
> * A lot just plain smells bad. *I did a little "safe snooping" too and
> although I see plenty of requirements to provide full functioning code,
> all source code, methods and documentation, I would have expected to
> also see something about copyright and intellectual rights; in fact, the
> site's pages aren't even copyrighted. *The only copyright I saw was your
> bossman's on some article he wrote.
> * *It particularly irks me that you might be pilfering/profiting somehow
> from non-profit sites and if you're willing to spam in the process, I
> find your methods most abhorrant(sp?). I happen to work with several
> non-profits, BTW. * I can 't help but wonder what really happens to the
> gratis code supplied for supposedly non-profit outfits around the world.
> If I were to spend more than the 5 minutes or so that I spent I'll bet
> there's a lot more to your story than I've touched on, too. *Quit
> spamming.
> * *On the slight possibiity that you're legit and just ignorant, you
> then seriously need some help with marketing before you go any further.
> You could start by doing some reading here:http://www.spamhaus.org/

Joe, and all others in this group,

Please accept my apologies. I hadn't realized the point of view, and
will be sure to refrain from postings in the future. I'm also working
to amend the TOS and other items that were missing, although can't do
much about the host in the short-term.

Apologetically,
--Dave



>
> It is an unsolicited ad for programmers to give up their time to help
> you and your web site.
>
> It doesn't matter what your budget is - such ads in programming
> newsgroups such as this are not welcome and considered SPAM.
>
> If you really want help, I would recommend you find some money to pay
> people a going rate.
>
> And yes, I do donate my time to non-profit organizations at times. *But
> they are ones I am familiar with, I know what they do and that they are
> a responsible organization. *And their goal is one I support.
>
> I don't just donate my time to any joe blow who comes along and asks for
> it. *I'd be out on the street real quick like that.
>
> --
> ==================
> Remove the "x" from my email address
> Jerry Stuckle
> JDS Computer Training Corp.
> jstuck...@attglobal.net
> ==================

I already gave a URL that contained excellent marketing strategies and
advice had you looked around the site. Others, of which there are
thousands, are:

http://www.mail-abuse.com/spam_def.html
http://www.imarketingstrategy.com/SPAM-SPAM-SPAM.html
http://www.streetdirectory.com/trave...marketing.html
http://www.e-strategyblog.com/2006/0...email_con.html
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/11-2-2002-29468.asp

The above links are a LOT of information, all generally aimed at the
same topic and some giving other sides of the story from spammers.

I'm not inclined to get into a word-war or long debate of definitions
and terms and rather think that you can find everything and more that I
would say by spending a few minutes with s search engine as I just did
to scrape out the above URLs. I don't personally specificallyrecommend
any of the above and all I can say about them is that they didn't drop
3rd party cookies and didn't try to push any malware on me that I could
detect and their info seemed OK. But I didn't spend a lof of surfing
time on them so have your AV etc up to date and firewall ON.

You need marketing efforts, not further spam efforts. Every single bit
of info I've provided is available online freely and to the public.

One hint: If you send a mail to anyone withouth their having
voluntarily and specifically opted IN to receive them, you could find
yourself further accused of spamming. It sounds tough, but if you will
just read ...

Twayne



> Apologies to add a second reply, but I'm dearly disappointed that
> something that I've worked hard to create for the common good has been
> identified as spam. Would you kindly point out what you mean by
> "German language" behind English?
>
> Many thanks,
> --Dave
>
>
>
> On Aug 27, 5:40 pm, "Twayne" <nob...@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote:
>>> Greetings,
>>
>>> My apologies if this message comes across as spam; it isn't meant to
>>> be.
>>
>>> A group of colleagues and I have built a project to mobilize
>>> technology volunteers for small nonprofit organizations, located at
>>> http://www.codekindness.org. It's a simple technology, and simply
>>> acts to link potential volunteers with individual projects. It's
>>> nonprofit.
>>
>>> The first 15 projects have been posted by about 21 small
>>> organizations both within, and outside of, the United States - and
>>> are all great causes. For instance, many orgs have such rudimentary
>>> websites that even a few minutes spent polishing their presence
>>> would be significantly helpful.
>>
>>> With hope, some of you might be interested to help one or more of
>>> these wonderful organizations with their technology needs, as a
>>> means to helping them further their mission of social good.
>>
>>> Kindly check out the projects and, if interested, sign up to help.
>>> Many thanks & all the best,
>>> --Dave
>>> http://www.codekindness.org
>>
>> Well, let's see here; since the abuse address for codekindness is at
>> coloquest.com, and since coloquest will not respond to spam reports,
>> it
>> also hosts rent-a-coder, is fairly new to have so many comments on it
>> online, I see a lot of comments about "friends don't have to worry
>> about
>> emailing multiple invitations for the same site", the graph
>> athttp://www.robtex.com/ip/69.65.41.13.html, there is no
>> brick/mortan address, no phone number, no tos, no aup, and plenty of
>> bad neighbors,
>> I'm going to say my opinion is that your post is indeed ... spam!
>> The above, and ... I managed to track it to other newsgroups and at
>> least one forum makes me even more sure. The German language sitting
>> behind the English is interesting since it's supposedly, according to
>> boss Crusoe, located in Mass.
>> A lot just plain smells bad. I did a little "safe snooping" too and
>> although I see plenty of requirements to provide full functioning
>> code,
>> all source code, methods and documentation, I would have expected to
>> also see something about copyright and intellectual rights; in fact,
>> the
>> site's pages aren't even copyrighted. The only copyright I saw was
>> your
>> bossman's on some article he wrote.
>> It particularly irks me that you might be pilfering/profiting somehow
>> from non-profit sites and if you're willing to spam in the process, I
>> find your methods most abhorrant(sp?). I happen to work with several
>> non-profits, BTW. I can 't help but wonder what really happens to the
>> gratis code supplied for supposedly non-profit outfits around the
>> world.
>> If I were to spend more than the 5 minutes or so that I spent I'll
>> bet
>> there's a lot more to your story than I've touched on, too. Quit
>> spamming.
>> On the slight possibiity that you're legit and just ignorant, you
>> then seriously need some help with marketing before you go any
>> further.
>> You could start by doing some reading here:http://www.spamhaus.org/

If you'll look around, it suggests and contains links on how to use the
'net for marketing. Along with thousands of others places.

Don't spam newsgroups, period, and don't send any emails to anyone you
do not have a Confirmed Opt-IN from and have recorded their unique
tokens. You CAN market safely on the 'net; but not as you are
apparenlty thinking of doing. Please research; trying to write
explanations is futile because they turn into debates and "what if"
sessions; sorry. Start by looking up "confirmed opt in" in conjunction
with email marketing . And ALWAYS obey the Can-Spam law if you spam in
the US. Sorry; advertise.

If you would really like to communicate further about these things, let
me know in this thread ONLY and I'll create an e-mail address where we
can correspond off-group. These kinds of group discussions are often
frowned upon by the regulars; rightfully so.


See inline for minor comments:

> Sigh.
>
> Ok, I'll have to ask for some explanation on the spamhaus mention of
> yours, my apologies. If you mean (re: the spam) the server that hosts
> CodeKindness: The website is hosted on MediaLayer, which is
> http://www.medialayer.com. Perhaps this was an unwise move?

I can't say. If YOU spam it's your accounts in danger or closure. If
your neighbors spam, then places like nanae and the like who block
entire IP ranges could easily include YOUR IP in the block; so you would
suffer for someone else's spamming tactics if that happened. Some
blocklists are VERY hard to get removed from.

>
> If you mean the server by which I'm sending this e-mail, it's being
> done from a desk at Citizen Schools, also in Boston (http://
> www.citizenschools.org).

OK. No objection to that of course. But ... it would appear you are
using a non-business account for your own personal business; just an
observation, nothing more. But I do have to wonder if it violates their
tos/aup, that's all. I'm not about to check and don't really care.
>
> Yes; I have posted to exactly TWO forums, including PHPForums and
> Devshed, both in the Website Critiques, to ask for assistance
> developing the site. You can find those posts at these addresses, as
> well as the full correspondence:
>
> http://forums.devshed.com/website-critiques-89/
> http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/inde...oard,10.0.html

Then someone did some relaying for you because I found your posts at a
few other locations when I used Google to see how active you were. You
didn't appear excessively active but you did appear to be new, so ... .
"Relaying" can sometimes happen if someone talking about your mail
ignorantly cross-posts to other groups about the mail and stupidly
doesn't snip what he considers to be spam. Then someone esle does an
ignorant snip and all of a sudden you have a new spam out there, from
you.
I am not saying that happened. I don't know any such thing and I
didn't spend a lot of time on the research because all I wanted to do
was convince you to stop spamming. I realize you don't consider it spam
(assuming you are legit in your comments here), but it is. Content is
meaningless in the definition of spam, so what was IN the mail/post was
irrelevant. No one on the group asked for it, no one wanted it, it was
unsolicited, was self-servind and not relevant to any ongoing post on
the group at that time or any past time. Normally those fearing their
posts will be interpreted as spam will first ask permission to post same
and see what the atmosphere is first. Expect it to be negaive 99% of
the time but also realize there ARE newsgroups where you would have been
welcomed. I don't know of any or I'd suggest t hem.
>
> Unfortunately, with a budget of $0, I simply can't afford banner ads;
> which is why I've posted to this particular group.

Internet marketing does not require $$$, although it may require $$ out
of your own pocket, depending on what resources you wish to use. No
money is not an excuse to spam. Unfortunately maybe, because of today's
spam situation, there IS NO EXCISE to spam.

>
> This work is most definitely nonprofit, and the income model is
> minimal at best. The hope was to provide funding for other development
> work, for instance, see http://www.boolify.org.

See, that's irrelevant w/r to spamming. Spam has nothing to do with
CONTENT. It has to do with applicability IN THE EYES OF THE RECIPIENT
of the mail/post, and whether he has in some way ASKED TO RECEIVE IT.
>
> In thinking this through, perhaps you might have suggestions about how
> to, as you say, "clean up the operations"?

I could write a book about it but thousands of others already have. I
don't mean to come off as rude & crude as I probably am, but if I don't,
I don't make the strong point I feel I need to make.

Your answer lies in research, not my opinions. Google is good, your own
search engine if you have one you consider better. Research for
legitimate looking articles (white papers are often very good) written
by authorative and responsible persons. Stay away from blogs! If you
start to believe a certain piece of information is relevant, then it
should be easy to clarify/confirm it thru other online sources. Valid
informaiton is widespread. In fact, now I think about it,
Wickipedia.com has some pretty decent starting points to internet
marketing without spamming, confirmed otpin mailing lists and the like,
along with several almost always reliable links and references, even
white papers. I haven't looked at that part of it in a long time but my
last trip there it was top notch information. Certainly worth a try,
and pay attention to their references and links to more info.
>
> Many thanks for your comments, and please accept my apologies for what
> you have mistaken as a spamming operation.

I don't want apologies, though I accept yours since it seems sincere,
although you wouldn't be the first spammer I said that to if you were a
spammer. The apologies I apprecaite most are when I never see another
sign of spam of any kind from any specific source. That means either
the source was intelligent enough to participate in honest marketing
campaigns, or their accounts were closed for spamming; either way is
good with me unless they come back from a different ISP.

Here's a couple more starting links for you:
http://cauce.org
www.spamcop.net (NOT spamcop.COM - different orgs)
and
an old editorial that's still applicable today:
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/11-2-2002-29468.asp

Lots of info around those but you have to be ready to accept it. Don't
just read the page that opens; look around a bit. The first two I will
speak for: They are perfectly safe and legitimate operations.

Regards,


>
> --Dave / CK
> http://www.bitculture.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 27, 11:56 pm, Gary L. Burnore <gburn...@databasix.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:26:56 -0700 (PDT), "dhcru...@gmail.com"
>>
>> <dhcru...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Greetings,
>>
>>> My apologies if this message comes across as spam; it isn't meant to
>>> be.
>>
>> Yeah, but it is. Lamer.
>> --
>> gburnore at DataBasix dot Com
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> How you look depends on where you go.
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Gary L. Burnore | ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
>> . | ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³
>> Official .sig, Accept no substitutes. |
>> ÝÛ³ºÝ³Þ³ºÝ³³Ýۺݳ޳ºÝ³Ý³Þ³ºÝ³ÝÝÛ³ . | ÝÛ 0 1 7 2 3 / Ý³Þ 3 7 4 9 3 0
>> Û³
>> Black Helicopter Repair Services, Ltd.| Official Proof of Purchase
>> ================================================== =========================

Gary, Twayne,

Many thanks for your very, very good suggestions. This is to say that
I feel more educated, and thoughtfully critiqued, rather than
attacked. Your comments are definitely on target not more harsh than
need be. The task is on me, now, to read and, as you both strongly
suggest, research.

In the interest of preserving the topical list, I'm going to refrain
from adding any more to this thread, save to say that you have both
pointed out very valuable information that will help educate me, and
others, about how to conduct proper web outreach.

Many thanks once again,
--Dave

Message-ID:
<0f833152-02fa-42de-b70e-019529e26835@m44g2000hsc.googlegroups.com> from
dhcrusoe@gmail.com contained the following:

>Joe, and all others in this group,
>
>Please accept my apologies. I hadn't realized the point of view, and
>will be sure to refrain from postings in the future.

In any group there will be a range of points of view. To my mind this is
not spam. I find the concept interesting and would certainly like to
discuss it further even if this is not the correct forum for doing so.

In particular, the subject of payment, while not strictly on topic is
surely of interest to many coders and has been discussed here before.

My son works for an organisation that raises money for charities. He
can get paid very well indeed if he works hard. Charities know that
raising money has a cost, whether it be the rent, heating and lighting
bills for the charity (thrift) shop or the cost of an advertising
poster, leaflet etc etc.

Something for nothing is often /perceived/ to have less intrinsic value
that a paid for item (witness the fact that so many people are prepared
to pay for Microsoft products, particularly Windows servers).

And what exactly is a non-profit? Are you sure this will not be abused?
I work for a non-profit organisation that has plenty of money to pay for
my services. (it's an academic institute and is even a registered
charity but the conference delegate fees more than cover development
costs)

So while I think your efforts are laudable I can see many flaws. Like
I've said, big organisations will (and should) pay. The type of
organisation that will benefit most are small and local. Look, I'm
English and I'm hardly likely to get much of a warm and fuzzy feeling
about helping the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed (no, not even for
a T shirt). Someone who lived in Cedar River might, but exactly what
are your chances of putting those parties together?

I think there has to be more in it for the coder. "Nonprofits, be sure
to reward their really great contribution to your flavor (sic) of social
good. " What the hell does that mean? Why not at least offer to
showcase the coder's work, offer inward links to his/her website, pass
on paid commissions as well as unpaid ones. To take off this has to
grow. Surely you can think of more ways to reward the coder? Warm and
fuzzy won't pay my bills I'm afraid and I have a shedload of my own
non-profit projects that I could be working on if I have the time.

I'm not saying I'd never help - but without anything else the cause
would have to be really dear to my heart.
--
Geoff Berrow 0110001001101100010000000110
001101101011011001000110111101100111001011
100110001101101111001011100111010101101011
http://slipperyhill.co.uk - http://4theweb.co.uk