One of the more unexpected joys of life on the Liberal Democrat Voice team is the unsolicited e-mail. Naturally, most of them are from Liberal Democrats wanting to write for the site, or campaigning groups wanting to promote their cause and reach out to us. Indeed, some of our best, most interesting articles come to us this way.
However, there are others. Sometimes, they're from someone who demonstrates a slightly relaxed grasp on reality, sometimes they're from someone who wants to confront us with 'uncomfortable truths', i.e. contentious opinions that aren't actually facts, but mostly, they're from random strangers wanting to place articles on the website as part of a 'commercial arrangement'.
Most of these are clearly from 'article factories', churning out infomercials on behalf of their client, and many of them are from the United States, evidently confused by the "Liberal Democrat' banner - one wonders if, like baseball, they assume that it is a concept for Americans only. Occasionally, I drop them a politely worded response, with only a hint of irony, noting this, and wondering if they really want to work with us. I seldom get a response. However, there's always an exception...
From: Jessica Oiler <oiler.jessica@yahoo.com>
To: voice <voice@libdemvoice.org>
Sent: Mon, 1 Oct 2012 8:31
Subject: Cooperation opportunities enquiry
Hi
I'm working on an advertising campaign for my client and came across your site http://www.libdemvoice.org/. Your site looks great and it would work perfectly with my client's site, which is in the same sector.
Ideally we are looking for relevant sites that can write an original article based around a keyword supplied by us. However, if you would prefer us to supply an article, this won't be a problem. We just ask that 1 permanent link is placed in the body of the content and linked back to our client's site.
Please feel free to contact me if this is of interest to you or you have any questions.
Best wishes,
Jessica
An interesting e-mail, offering no clues as to who, or where, their client might be. Intrigued, I replied...
From: Mark Valladares [mailto:markv233@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2012 11:57 PM
Subject: Re: Cooperation opportunities enquiry
Dear Jessica,
Thank you for your e-mail earlier today.
It is unclear from your e-mail who your client is, or how they fit neatly with us. Accordingly, we would require a lot more information before we could consider such an approach, and I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Mark Valladares
I wasn't expecting a reply, and so when this turned up, I felt that I should share it with you...
To: <markv233@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, 2 Oct 2012 7:26
Hi Mark,
Thanks a lot for the reply!
Our client is http://www.davidicke.com/ and we would like you to create a post for him and place it in your blog.
Please, let me know if you agree or in case you have any other suggestions!
Alright, I was a bit surprised. Perhaps there is another David Icke, so I checked the link. Sure enough, it was the website of the former Hereford United goalkeeper, BBC sports presenter and contrarian.
I wonder what sector it is that includes Liberal Democrat Voice and David Icke? I don't recall any of my colleagues accusing anyone, not even Charlotte Henry, of being a giant green lizard in human disguise...
2 comments:
You're just saying that because you're one of the lizardmen.
Damn, you found out... :)
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