This is not a brothel...
I think I'm going to get in trouble for expressing my opinion so stridently, but I'm going to put up a page on my site for people who want to send me Press Releases. It's going to have this picture on it.
It really pisses me off that press people consider me an outlet to push their marketing messages. It upsets me that people in the world can look at me and only see ways that they can scavenge some limited advantage through which to push their agendas. They see my personal expression, my unadulterated opinion and they think they can use it as a host for their parasitic bullshit.
Worse still, I'm not sure they understand how revolting I find the whole thing. I'm not sure they get that I don't consider it part of my life's mission to carry the messaging they want to distribute. I don't think they understand that it's an insult to me for them to think that my voice is so apparently for sale. I find it degrading, patronising, cynical. It makes me want to hurl.
One of the absolute worst things that has ever happened to my blog was an article last year that named plasticbag.org one of the UK's most influential blogs. I think it was on PRBlogger.com. The amount of crap I received from people who now viewed me as a useful and exploitable commodity put me off writing for months. Longer maybe. Being viewed like a piece of meat by people who wanted somehow to carve off a little of my feeble authenticity. Disgusting.
Anyway, it would be difficult for me to say that getting sent lots of press releases consituted a real invasion of my life, or that it compromised my existence. But it did spoil a pleasure. It did sour a joy. It made me come to dislike one of the things that had been a particular pleasure in my life, and for that I'm furious.
So I'm putting up a page for people who want to send me press releases. And it will say this on it. For as long as I have it up, plasticbag.org will never display anything that I'm asked to display. I will write about my employer only when I want to, when I'm proud of something they or I have done, not when I'm asked. And I will absolutely never talk about something that I receive through a press release, or as a consequence of someone giving me a freebie.
There has to be one place in your life where you're absolutely resolutely not for sale. For me, that place is my personal site, the representation of me online. I'd no more let someone else compromise that voice than I'd let them tattoo their logo on my children.
Comments and faves
Jeff Croft, Ms. Jen, MetaGrrrl, diamond geezer, and 295 other people added this photo to their favorites.
ultrasparky [deleted] (58 months ago | reply)
As ever, you're my hero.
leahpeah (58 months ago | reply)
very well said, tom.
sh1mmer (58 months ago | reply)
Well done, sir
Caroline (58 months ago | reply)
Amen.
stedavies (58 months ago | reply)
Hi Tom,
Author of prblogger.com here.
Apologies if my blog post has caused you to receive incessant amounts of spam disguised as press releases. It really wasn't my intention.
My interests, at the time, were finding out more about the UK blogosphere.
Anyway, apologies again.
Stephen
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
So, while I appreciate your apology, I do think you're being a bit disingenuous. Your were interested in working out which blogs would be best suited to carrying messaging from public relations companies, not simply in learning about webloggia. I understand that, of course. It's your job. But it's still, fundamentally, about you looking towards something I'm doing and trying to work out how you and people with similar professions might exploit it. Surely you can see how that shift - from being part of a culture of peers to being viewed as a resource to be tapped - might lower my faith in humanity quite dramatically? Surely you can see how I'd find a swathe of press releases (and not spam disguised as press releases, bloody press releases) insulting?
stedavies (58 months ago | reply)
Sorry to hear you think I'm being disingenuous, Tom. But I can honestly say I have a passion for the blogosphere as much as anyone else because of the friends I've made, the doors it's opened and the continuous learning experience. And I don't believe it's a medium where PR companies can push messages to those that don't want to receive them.
Not to say I don't think there's a place for PR online. I believe there is. PR done wrongly isn't though. You probably don't agree but I don't subscribe to the view that PR is bad. You use the word 'exploit' I would say 'work with'.
"Surely you can see how that shift - from being part of a culture of peers to being viewed as a resource to be tapped - might lower my faith in humanity quite dramatically?"
Indeed. I agree totally. That's why I as a person (because I don't represent the entire industry) have never sent spammed press releases to bloggers. Including my list you referred to.
I can apologise for writing a blog post which linked to your blog. And again, I am sorry because you feel insulted. But I can't apologise on behalf of the people that send you the releases and I can't take full responsibility for it because I happened to say you were a prominent UK blogger once last year.
Stephen
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
I'm sorry if I sound angry, and I should admit that I do have a pretty low opinion of the PR industry, so it's conceivable that I'm being biased and unfair.
But still, I remain unclear on the reasons you would list one hundred influential bloggers on a PR-focused blog if the intent wasn't for PR people to target them in some fashion?
I should also point out that there's a difference between recognising that targetting bloggers incorrectly might be aggravating or insulting to them, and recognising it might be counter-productive to the organisation you represent.
Giving you the absolute benefit of the doubt, all I can come up with is that it didn't occur to you that putting such a list up might result in people sending endless press releases to bloggers, or that if they were sent out that no one concerned might find the process of being treated as a channel to sell through a negative experience. And then, really, all I'm able to concede is that you did a negative thing by accident or clumsily or for good reasons, but in error.
I can't find a single way of looking at the thing that makes it a net positive for weblogs or the people who write them.
FiveAshes (58 months ago | reply)
Please, please, please! Add your great pic to the Pissed Off? group.
duanemoodydotcom (58 months ago | reply)
awesome.
welltaken pictures (58 months ago | reply)
well taken picture
meeware1 (58 months ago | reply)
And if you need a sound track for it, I can recommend something the late great Bill Hicks said once or twice:
"By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. "Thank you, thank you. Just a little thought. I'm just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day they'll take root. I don't know. You try. You do what you can. Kill yourselves. Seriously though, if you are, do. No really, there's no rationalisation for what you do, and you are Satan's little helpers, OK? Kill yourselves, seriously. You're the ruiner of all things good. Seriously, no, this is not a joke. "There's gonna be a joke coming..." There's no fucking joke coming, you are Satan's spawn, filling the world with bile and garbage, you are fucked and you are fucking us, kill yourselves, it's the only way to save your fucking soul. Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now. Now, back to the show.
""You know what Bill's doing now, he's going for the righteous indignation dollar, that's a big dollar, a lot of people are feeling that indignation, we've done research, huge market. He's doing a good thing." Godammit, I'm not doing that, you scumbags, quit putting a godamn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!"
Um, perhaps a bit strong, but nothing like venting a little spleeen once in a while.
Leaving Flickr - Family more important [deleted] (58 months ago | reply)
Congrats! You have been awarded the
Black Ribbon Of Beauty
You are invited to post this photo at Black Ribbon Beauty
Please READ THE RULES and
Tag Image BlackRibbonBeauty
Murfomurf (58 months ago | reply)
Hmm- you have achieved some success- I haven't the faintest idea who you are and I don't care- now that must be good!
BAS3.photography (58 months ago | reply)
I just like picture... Nice capture, clear message. That's how it should be. Seen in Explore.
theworldsleading (58 months ago | reply)
Tom,
Just going back to your original post...the bit about putting a tattoo of a logo on your children.
I know you said that you wouldn't do it, but perhaps if you considered it for a moment..? A tattoo of a logo doesn't have to be deemed as an endorsement or, indeed, as compromising your voice. Indeed, it could be seen as an ironic condemnation of marketing and PR.
So, I'm just wondering, is we sent you a couple of different versions of our logo...have a chat with the kids, see how it flies...maybe just a semi-permanent one..? Henna..?
Tom?
Tom..?
Helloooo...
Bopuc (58 months ago | reply)
"There has to be one place in your life where you're absolutely resolutely not for sale."
Not a single iota, not a sliver of a facet, not a square mircon of space in your life should be for sale.
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
Not even the eight hours a day you work to get paid to live?
Bopuc (58 months ago | reply)
(how to answer this without coming off as naïve, preachy or pretentious.. eek!)
The benefit of whom, and the goals towards which one chooses to work for, is entirely up to each indvidual, as is where one draws the line. I can not and do not pretend to think otherwise. But, ideally, I stand by my previous comment. As a goal I set for myself, and only for myself.
I entirely agree with what you have written here, and am glad you have drawn that line, and hope it will awaken some people who otherwise might be all too happy to be "honoured with the role of being a spokesperson for"... Having been around this stuff, at many levels, for many years, I have seen it all too often and, as you, it makes me want to heave.
:)
simply innocuous (58 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Bullshit Alert, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
▓▒░JASE░▒▓ (58 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Signage & Typography, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
styler* (58 months ago | reply)
well done tom
anyone who actually reads your blog knows your position so to ignore it is frankly - bad pr.
Josh Bryant's Old Flickr Acct (58 months ago | reply)
1. Interesting post & photo. You do indeed seem to have a very negative and pessimistic view of the PR industry.
2. Is it not ironic that in a post lamenting about people using someone else's activity to promote their own agendas, half the comments consist of people requesting for the photo (and it's incurred traffic count) to be added to their own Flickr group, for the sole purpose of... promoting their own agendas. ?
3. "Not even the eight hours a day you work to get paid to live?" Hopefully the act of working to get paid to live is more than just selling yourself or you time. I'd like to think that it's possible in this world to be paid for things we enjoy doing, whether we get paid for them or not. Not that I agree with bopuc, and not that I don't believe compromises have to be made, but I certainly wouldn't prostitute myself for eight hours a day just to get paid.
BAS3.photography (58 months ago | reply)
Ha ha ha, hilarious. An invite to the bullshit alert... Cracked me up.
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
You see, this is the problem: Post on Bloggers. People think I'm being over the top and that PR people are perfectly reasonable, but then you read something like this: "And maybe bloggers need to realise that if they publish and they have an audience, they are vehicles conveying messages, and companies will always look to sign them up."
▓▒░JASE░▒▓ (58 months ago | reply)
I couldn't give a toss about any of that shit, I like your photos and that's it.
shmuel (58 months ago | reply)
Ok, about the photo - what's the story there?
Thom Shannon (58 months ago | reply)
i wish my blog was popular enough for people to send me free stuff! :)
I've seen a few people reacting like this to being sent freebies and press releases. Marketing and PR is not in itself bad, but some people in the industry (like any other) are a bit lazy, arrogant, or just ignorant. I think many people confuse a personal blog with some sort of magazine column, they fail to see why you'd be writing it if it wasn't for some financial gain.
This is compounded by all the blogs that happily write about releases and review things they're sent, plenty of "personal" blogs do.
PR people should just take the time to do a little research into the blogger they're approaching to save everyone this hassle, and if they can't find a preference mentioned in their blog archives then send a polite email asking permission to send any releases.
I guess the solution for you is to just ignore them, and please bare in mind there are plenty of people of this industry (like me) who won't be sending you any releases because they know you don't want them!
.Betina. (58 months ago | reply)
Uhmm - I just like the image...
avocadoh (58 months ago | reply)
I like the photo, too. I don't know the story behind it, but I can imagine: I once had a high school teacher who inherited the phone number of a brothel that had gone out of business 6 months before. She used to get several calls a week from businessmen looking for a little action.
thtstudios (58 months ago | reply)
whoa ... you made it stop and think.
--
Seen in the interestingness archives. (?)
fraying (58 months ago | reply)
Tom, I largely agree with you, but I want to suggest one thing. There are a lot of people out there, posting to their blogs, who really do want an audience. There's there's something just a tiny bit immodest about your post - like the famous rock band that writes songs about how hard it is to be famous.
I know you don't mean it that way, but be careful. Having an audience means people want to talk to you about stuff. That's what happens when you're successful.
Of course PR folk and marketeers should be clueful when contacting bloggers. But I sincerely believe there's a common ground where bloggers and pr people can talk without anyone being a prostitute (or a jon).
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
I can understand how it someone could read this stuff in that way, but I don't really know how to talk about what I believe to be a fairly serious deforming and polluting of my culture, and to explain why I've stopped writing so much and what effect that post had on me, without acknowledging or referencing that a year ago I was on this list.
Every day I get press releases and people from companies contacting me about some book or start-up or event they're doing trying to persuade me to talk about their thing. 99% of the time it has nothing to do with my site, the things I'm interested in or anything that I'd want to talk about anyway. And the other 1% I won't do anything with on principle. My site is not for sale. I'm not a bloody marketing vector for these people, and I'm unapologetic about that.
I could just as easily talk about how offensive I find direct marketing phone calls to my house or comment spam, and in fact I have done so. The thing that makes this more annoying for me is that individuals actually specifically target people to whore through and they think it's okay.
I know what you mean though. Don't let me being angry with them translate to me being angry at you for pointing out the risks of shouting about this in public. It makes me very angry, but it's certainly not your fault!
Gordon (58 months ago | reply)
Is there wiggle room here? I'm certainly not contacted everyday but I did recently post about a company who offered me an incentive (ok, paid) me to write about their product. However, I had used, and blogged, about them before, and they were quite open to the fact that I could write bad things as well as good.
I guess, as I'm not flooded with offers I view these one-offs differently, although I still questioned (openly on my blog) the ethics of what I was doing.
Of course, a blog is not a vehicle, or if it is, then *I* choose the passengers. (we'll leave aside my own ethics for the moment)
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
Dude, it's up to you and your particular ethics and it's not always simple to work out what the best thing to do is, nor do we always get it right. Personally I would have significant trouble about using my site to write about someone else's product for money. I'm sure you declared that you'd been paid to talk about it, and in that case—as long as you were honest—I don't see that anyone could complain about it. Otherwise, I do think it's misleading the people who read your stuff, people who are your peers and friends.
mjones.photo (58 months ago | reply)
although many have left long hearted and long worded comments ... i am going to opt to do the opposite and leave you with one word....
BRILLIANCE!
Gordon (58 months ago | reply)
True Tom, and I think the only reason I did it was because I told them that I would only do it if I could be 100% transparent, and before I did it, I asked my readers what they thought!
timhood (58 months ago | reply)
Hi Tom
I appreciate your wish for privacy and your ideals shine through. But I think that the issue you have rightly raised is more complex than a simple assertion that bloggers deserve privacy from commercial organizations suggests.
I've recently started a citizen media site and I'm faced with a dilemma you might like to help me solve. We think it is an original concept and we have high ideals (I'm deliberately not mentioning the name or url for obvious reasons). Naturally, we need traffic, meaning we need to promote the site. The several hundred or so quality bloggers on social media and citizen journalism are the obvious place to start. But even if I write individually to them, sooner or later, I'll get branded a spammer and I'll piss people off.
I assume you value the low barriers to entry and the democratization that characterise the web, so you wouldn't suggest I spend large amounts on advertising.
So, with millions of sites on the web, and getting on the front page of google virtually impossible for new sites, what are the options?
If I email people individually, sooner or later I get branded a spammer, no matter how personalised and non-commercial I try to make the message.
I could clog up your comment pages with links to my site, but that is not exactly the right thing to do either.
So the last option is to turn to PR companies like the one Stephen works for- that send SMNR to influential bloggers who give them permission. Does this make me a bad person, invading the privacy of people like yourself? Does it make those bloggers who do accept the news releases prostitutes?
I passionately believe in the benefits of my idea to anyone who takes an interest in news and politics, but after taking a month's leave from my job to launch the site, I have run up against a brick wall in getting the word out. I face being branded a spammer or now, seemingly a jon, simply because I want the bloggers I most respect to give give a helping hand.
What are the options for start ups who have an original idea and are racing against time to get it established before a huge media organization copy it and wipe them out?
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
Tim, I want to make a few things clear. Firstly I'm not talking about my privacy here. I'm talking about being viewed as a marketing vehicle and as a means to an end to further someone else's interests. It's not that I don't like receiving e-mail (although I get too much, obviously), it's that I don't like being treated as a resource to be exploited by people I don't know at all.
In terms of your particular problem, the most sensible thing to do would be for you to personally e-mail those people whose opinion you respect and ask them what they think of the service and if they had any thoughts. If they're feeling nice and they like what you're talking about, then they may very well link to it anyway. Otherwise you might get some good perspectives. Asking someone's opinion one-to-one is much more respectful than sending them a press release.
And—as you know—if an idea is good enough and gets on a few interesting or popular blogs, then other people pick it up through the normal flow of the industry.
If you want to engage in more active promotion of your concept, then there are ways to engage in that kind of stuff without being duplicitous. First, write a blog yourself and link to people who you think are interesting and respond to things they've said that you found interesting with something legitimate. Write about the thing you're making and how it works and why it's interesting. Send the URL of these posts to a few people who you respect or like asking them for their opinions. If they have them or want to provide them then they will.
Write a post for Digg, but don't try and push it or sell it unethically. Stick a link to it on your blog and maybe throw a note around to a few people you have a particular relationship with asking them to have a look and digg the story if they agree with it or like it.
Actively look for communities who might be interested in the kind of thing you're offering. Join those communities, and actually try and be a part of them. Be clear that you've joined because you've been working on a start-up and you'd like to get people's opinions and learn about things that you've got wrong.
Look for those particular weblogs that either explicitly ask for press releases or take link submissions (Boing Boing for example) and send your idea to them. Make it human language like a real person speaks. Don't ever ever send them a press release if you can avoid it. Be brief. If they're not interested, leave em alone.
If you still want to find people who might be interested in your contact and won't consider it spamming, then a good rule of thumb would be whether or not they're setting themselves up as a pundit or industry insider, or whether they do it professionally. People who do this professionally are on the whole much more keen on receiving stuff that they could use as content, and they like and need relationships with companies for their material.
And in the end, you can always go to industry events and conferences and meet up with people there. And you should totally propose talks about your project at these various events that are relevant to your audience.
And all of this without having to get a PR firm involved at all!
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
By the way, if you would like my opinion on your site, then feel free to send me an e-mail with the URL in it and a couple of lines about it.
Matt Perdeaux (58 months ago | reply)
Of course, when Tom does link to you, it suddenly gives you enough of a profile to receive a deluge of trackback spam. Thanks a bunch fella. :)
On a more serious note, as a recent beneficiary of a link from plasticbag, the main thing for me is that someone whose opinion I and many others trust has taken the time to look at and comment on something of mine. It provides feedback that is much more valuable than the relatively small amount of referrals (in my case) the link has generated so far.
terrycojones (58 months ago | reply)
Hi Tom
I'm sympathetic to your situation, but I find your reaction to it very naive.
What on earth did you expect? That the rest of the world would share your priorities, motivations, aims, etc.? Of course you didn't expect that, but from the tone of outrage with which you write, it sure sounds that way.
If an author writes a series of popular books and they allow their photo to appear inside the dust jacket, or they do interviews on TV, they should expect random people to recognize them and approach on the street. They should expect to be asked to sign autographs, to be asked for comp copies of their books, to be sent drafts and poems and other books by aspiring others, to be asked for comments and opinios, to write reviews, etc. All that comes with the territory.
Yes, you may not like it, and you may try to do something about it (you're doing both, to your credit), but to rail as you do against the people who approach you is pretty naive. What the hell did you expect?
You say for example that these people have ruined your pleasure. What pleasure did they ruin? The simple pleasure of writing? Surely not, you are free to write in the absence of an audience. If so, why don't you do that Tom? If not, then part of your pleasure, I suppose, is in having an audience. If you write in part because having an audience gives you pleasure, and your audience then gives you not-pleasure, you've certainly had a hand in pissing in your own pool. You can't simply fly off the handle when the audience does something you don't like. Having an audience that is not under your control is part of the deal. As I said, I have sympathy for you, and I'm not arguing that you shouldn't react or try to control or shape things to be the way you prefer them, but the tone of shrill moral outrage that these selfish people should ruin all the fun you were having basking in the sun of your formerly-docile admirers is a bit rich.
I could go on, but I'm sure you get the point. You're dealing with it, and that's great. But your shocked and outraged innocent tone that others might act in their own interests, when presented with a clear opportunity, is a bit much. What else would you expect? The success of the web and blogging software presented you with an opportunity. You took it. Your successful use of these presents others with opportunity. So it goes. It's great you're no fool, that you're not for sale, etc. You'll keep your readers and just maybe get fewer press releases as a result. But the downside you're experiencing as a result of your success comes with the territory.
(Apologies for being a bit repetitive.)
Regards,
Terry Jones
terrycojones (58 months ago | reply)
Here's another possible reaction. Once again it's opportunistic - but that how the world works.
Take all the press releases you've ever been sent, and build or help build Spam Assassin (or other) filters that can reliably detect them. Then use your new filter to cut that crap out of your life. This is what people, myself included (see jon.es/spamometer - with apologies for being so self-serving and opportunistic as to put a link to my own site in your comment thread), did in a partially-successful and of course on-going attempt to fight spam. I even started a Library of Spam in 1997 so that people could automatically mail me their spam for the purposes of anaylsis. I got sent a ton of spam that way, and used it to improve filters.
It would be ironic to turn the tables on the PR companies by using their mails to build a filter to shut them out. And maybe they'd complain: "that bastard Tom Coates, he's organized some long-haired hippy hackers to filter out our innocent emails! How dare he attack our efforts to spread the word about useful web services, and all to his own greater glory and advantage. That idealistic pinko is undermining market efficiency." Etc. And to them too, I'd say the same thing: what the hell did you expect?
In adversity, opportunity. Or something.
Regards again,
Terry Jones
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
Terry, going back to your earlier point, I'm really a bit mystified. Did I expect people to always be nice to me? No, I've written a blog in public for eight years. Of course I didn't expect people to always be nice to me. Did I not think people might be cynical? Yes, of course I think people will be cynical and exploitative. Not always, but some people. Absolutely.
You characterise these people as 'fans' coming up to get a book signed. I'd find that relationship pretty weird if it ever happened, but it's not the one we're talking about. It's a pretty different relationship between famous author and fan and personal blogger and cynical promotions company.
But in the end, none of this matters. Even you don't seem to think their behaviour is particularly desirable. All you're arguing is that I should expect it. And I do. I'm just not prepared to do so passively. If I get angry in public it's to try and persuade people to stop doing it. If I argue against it, it's because it's something worth arguing against, not because I'm surprised people are doing it. I have absolutely no idea where you'd find fault in that logic.
▓▒░JASE░▒▓ (58 months ago | reply)
Dear Tom, my girlfreind says she loves me but everytime we are together she picks her nose and flicks it on me....this is really embarrassing when we are out to dinner....what should I do.
PLEASE HELP.
The little green man.
:-)
terrycojones (58 months ago | reply)
Hi Tom
Yep, agree, I don't find fault in that logic. I agree with it, and like to think I'd do the same, or similar.
I'm just surprised that something that looks like pretty predictable behavior from the PR industry pisses you off, insults you, sours your joy, disgusts you, spoils your pleasure, makes you furious, etc. That they should send you press releases as a result of your blog being mentioned in one of their publications seems quite unremarkable. Given your 8 years of blogging, I'm just surprised that your reaction is so strong. That's not a criticism, I'm just expressing my own surprise.
As for the author analogy, it starts off innocently with simple fans, but it heads in your direction: where do you think all those breathless quotes on the back of books by famous authors and publications come from? Cynical (book and PR) companies contact famous authors and ask them for comments and quotes etc. I know a couple of authors who are bombarded with that sort of request. I think that part of the analogy is fairly good. I worked towards it from innocent fan towards cynical opportunists deliberately, because, as with blogging, I think you go down the slippery slope of increasing success and public profile and increasingly cynical/parasitic attempts to exploit your success.
Super Rabbit One (58 months ago | reply)
Have you tried shaming the lazy PR people infront of their clients? If you have a standard template letter about why what the PR people are doing is damaging to their clients brand, and then when you get a spare minute just forward the press releases back to the clients.
Perhaps also have a sort of hall of shame for the companies using these lazy tactics on your site, no links of course.
Tom Coates (58 months ago | reply)
Jessica - now that really isn't a bad idea at all.
timhood (58 months ago | reply)
Hi Tom
Belated thanks for your advice- I've been offline for a few days.The fact that you went to the trouble to write such a detailed reply is really appreciated.
I'll certainly be in touch to see what you think about the site.
Nefi (58 months ago | reply)
I think the bottom line here is that individual bloggers have the right to decide for themselves whether or not they want to receive press releases and other marketing materials. Tom, you are absolutely in the right to decide that you are not interested in receiving any marketing materials from anyone, regardless of who they are or what they do.
The onus is, I think, on the PR industry to find out whether or not the blogger they think they want to contact is actually amenable to it - some are, some aren't. And then they need to *respect* the blogger's position. I've been reading Tom's blog for years, and he's made it abundantly clear on several occasions that he is simply not interested in receiving material from PR agencies or marketing departments. That wish should be respected.
Of course, not everyone does their research as fully as they should, so I think it's a damn fine idea to spell it out in words of one syllable or less that PR materials are not welcomed.
I get a few press releases and emails from people trying to promote themselves, and most of it is done is a shoddy, slapdash way. I've even had email that's sent to me, but addressed "Dear Kevin" (who is my blog co-author and fiancee). Dear lord, my email address has my damn name in it! I just chuck everything in a file called "pending a read one day" and then ignore it. Unless it is a really clueless email, and then I post it on the blog and ridicule it, as it deserves.
Tom, there are nice people in PR who care about not screwing bloggers, but you won't *see* hide nor hair of them, because they respect you and won't get in touch with you. But maybe what's needed is widespread humiliation of stupid PR people so that they get the message. Perhaps a wiki where we can post up all the stupid emails we get.