I am not the only one blogging about Mamasource. There are other women out there who are just as angry about the spamming, the email hijacking and phishing, and the unethical tactics that Artie Wu employs in the name of community that they too have decided to take a stand for what is right, to tell the world what is wrong with Mamasource.
So many of you love Mamasource...and that's fine, BUT do you love what they are doing to people's email address books? Do you love that they are using non-profits like Trees for the Future and The Breast Cancer Fund to further their agenda? Do you agree with using these charities to encourage people to give up their email address book passwords?
You should be thinking twice about these tactics!
Does it bother you that you CANNOT UNSUBSCRIBE FROM YOUR EMAILS?
It should. Because having an unsubscribe link that doesn't actually unsubscribe you is in direct violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
You probably aren't aware of how Mamasource's email servers re configured, but it might be of interest to you that they are configured like those of EMAIL SPAMMERS.
Try It!
Try and send an email to abuse@mamasource.com, and an email to postmaster@mamasource.com.
THEY WILL BOUNCE BACK! (and they are not supposed to!)
This site is shady and I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Check out this blog and read Amy's story. Do you really want to belong to a community site that spams people in the name of trees and breast health?
Advice Goddess Blog
I know that over 500 of you have visited this site through my Google AdWords ads. I want you to know that my ad campaign is costing me money, and as a single mom, I really don't have it to spend. It is coming out of my own pocket, and the reason I keep this campaign going is because I feel so strongly that what Artie Wu is doing is WRONG. Plain and simple, he is scamming and spamming you, and it is WRONG!
He's got millions and I have nothing but the compelling evidence I've uncovered, my computer and my convictions.
I am NOT sponsored. No one is giving me money, no one is paying for my time or my ad costs. It is just me, and I have other things to do in my life, but each and every time I find another woman online who has been spammed, who has been scammed, and who has been embarrassed, I find it in me, again, to keep up my vigilance, to keep unearthing information supporting my statements, and to keep shelling out money so more eyes will look at this site.
You must look at the FACTS and decide for yourself if you want to support Mamasource with the way they are doing "business." And yes, it is a business.
Please visit the following blog and read her story and other people's comments. I am NOT THE ONLY ONE who is angry enough to write, angry enough to dig deeper into this supposed community site, angry enough to uncover these shady and unethical tactics for all to see.
Please visit Amy's blog at:
AdviceGoddess Blog
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5 comments:
I'm so pissed. Does anyone know how to deactivate an account on this Mamasource thing?
Jody -
You can write to support@mamasource.com and ask them to remove you. Be sure and tell them they are in violation of the CAN-SPAM ACT of 2003 and they need to supply a WORKING unsubscribe link to people on their (harvested/hijacked) email list.
If you'd like to take it a step further you can forward the emails that you cannot unsubscribe from to spam@uce.gov
The set up at Mamasource is far from ethical and I really hope that someday we can get Artie Wu to change his tactics.
Sorry you are having such a difficult time getting unsubscribed. It is very frustrating to have a "trusted" community site for moms pull this BS on its subscribers.
Let me know if I can help you out in any way.
Thanks so much for you quick response.
You're right...my only option was to send an email to support@mamasource.com.
Here is what I sent - "I want to delete my account. This is BS - I didn't want to sign up for something to get a tree planted. You provide NO place to delete your account - I've check Help/FAQ, & every other page. THAT IS ILLEGAL!"
Here is what I received - "Dear Jody, This is Sarah at Mamasource Member Support. I received your message and I have gone ahead and canceled your Mamasource account. Thank you and best wishes! Warmly, Sarah, Mamasource Member Support"
How will I ever really know if my email address is not being shared?
UGH!
I will say this....I'm really glad I caught the red flag - I didn't enter my email address password, so they didn't get to my contacts. YEAH!
I did reply to my friend who sent this to me, & I copied & pasted your link, so that she could read all of this for herself.
Thank you for providing this blog! It has wonderful info., & I really appreciate your help.
Hi Jody -
Glad you got unsubscribed. I am not sure you can be certain that your email is not being shared, but since you didn't not enter your email password, you can be sure that your friends, colleagues and your mother in law didn't get spammed, and there is some comfort in that.
Another thing you might want to do is contact Trees for the Future and let them know what has happened and how angry you are. I am not sure they are fully aware of the implications of being associated with a site like Mamasource, and my suspicion is they keep hoping that Artie Wu will change his ways.
Their website is www.treesftf.org and their phone number is 1-800-643-0001. They still have Mamasource listed as a partner and with all the information I've given them, I don't know know why they are still involved with Artie Wu and Mamasource, because clearly, things are NOT going to change.
I scour Google daily and mostly what I find are upset and angry women who've been scammed in the name of Trees for the Future. It is beyond me why they are still partnered.
The Breast Cancer Fund is also a partner with Mamasource and I can tell you that I was very upset to see a heavy handed page featuring scarcity tactics (this is your ONLY chance to give to the Breast Cancer Fund)in another bid to get people to enter their email address book password.
I am someone who loves the environment and who has seen my mother and close friends battle breast cancer and I can't tell you how upsetting it is to see Artie Wu and Mamasource take advantage of these two causes to further their own agenda.
I think it stinks!
Take care and thanks for your post, I appreciate hearing from you and I am glad I could at least help you get unsubscribed from Mamasource's list.
I know exactly how to deactivate your account. Piss them off!
I didn't mean to. I mean it was an okay site and I responded every night to people's questions but nobody was ever really from my area. They weren't connecting my community at all unless you really believe Nevada and Hawaii are neighbors. So when some moms asked questions that related to where they actually lived and got no replies, I sent them an e-mail to check out my local group on lilaguide.com.
APPARENTLY, this was a bad thing and I was a bad person because they deleted my account. No warning, just an e-mail that I was promoting a commercial site. (My group is like a yahoo group on lilaguide. Commercial my foot!)
I e-mailed them because I lost the contacts I had made on there (in my sent mail POOF!) and no reply.
SOOOO if you want to get off of mamasource, just start sending random moms messages with links to e-bay or some other site.
Send them a link to www.lilaguide.com It's a better site anyway even though it's pretty new (competitive with mamasource though? No, they're not the same thing. Mamasource is like a glorified yahoo answers anyway with no points)
They'll remove you toot-suite!
That's how I found all of this information too. I wonder if they farmed my address book too...didn't even realize they were this scandalous.
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