13 Responses to “Christianity Today spam”

1. 1 Ted Olsen  on May 11th, 2006 at 12:47 pm

   I’m checking on this. We certainly didn’t authorize it here on the CT hallway. It may be a corporate thing. Thanks for letting me know, BD.

2. 2 Bene Diction  on May 11th, 2006 at 3:53 pm

   Thanks for speaking up.
   Corporate people don’t need to be spamming us, you’ve earned respect by showing respect, shame to have some suit’s decision erode that. Or Michael Joseph could be a link farm, splog don’t know, I went over and asked what’s up. 
   I’m not the only one that received this.:^)

3. 3 Astralis  on May 11th, 2006 at 5:22 pm

   I’ve received a ton of these. They’re so annoying. Please make it stop CT!

4. 4 Bene Diction  on May 11th, 2006 at 6:38 pm

    

   I’ve deleted my comment because of what I’ve stumbled on. I think for now this is best – until I can get the rest of the information. I’ve never deleted a comment like this before, and I don’t like having to do it.

5. 5 Michael Herman  on May 12th, 2006 at 10:00 am

   I was the one who wrote the above comments to your post.

   I was looking around for blogs writing about Da Vinci who were Christian-run blog. Your article was about Da Vinci, and you appeared to be a Christian-run blog.So, I wanted to let you and your readers know about what CTI had to offer on the subjuect. This was merely in order to add to the conversation that your post was beigging, not to spam your blog.

   In fact, I only comments to three blogs yesterday, because I don’t have enough time to spend my days going from blog to blog adding links to posts on the Da Vinci Code topic.

   So, please understand that I was merely attempting to add to your post’s conversation — not to place an ugly stain on it that appeared to come from a blogging farm hired by CTI.

   It’s an extra thing that I do above and beyond my role here in the Media Relations Dept. I am one of the people doing my best to show the people above me here at CTI that blogs are worth investing in as we think about “Media” as a whole. You are a Christian blog, and you wrote about a topic we’re covering. So, I felt that you’d appreciate — as the other bloggers have — that I’ve taken time to get into the conversation and to bring resources to your readership in the small amount of time I have to do specific contacts with media such as yours.

   I’m sorry you felt violated, and that you wrote about CT as potentially doing something unethical when it was actually an effort of interest in blogs as a part of the Media that people turn to when they want to know about topics such as The Da Vinci Code.

   Please contact me directly if you have any questions. I’d be more than happy to clear up any questions or comments left unanswered by this response.

6. 6 Michael Herman  on May 12th, 2006 at 10:06 am

   To “Astralis”:

   I’ve only been to your website (Spero News) once — earlier this week (when I saw your story writing about our news release the day after it went out). You took our News Release and turned it into an article — straight from our release without doubt. That’s great, and we appreciated that from you.

   I din’t respond through your website, I wrote directly to you to thank you — not with a form letter, but with a very specific thank you that I really didn’t need to send, but I wanted to do it in order to show our appreciation.

   Whomever is sending “a ton of these” is not writing from CT. So, please understand that many others might pretend to be us, but we have never spammed anyone, used marketing farms, or have even bought email address lists from anyone. I’ve been here with the online side of things with CTI for more than 10 years. So, I know we’ve been accused of many things, but have never, ever done any of these things.

   Thank you for understanding.

7. 7 Sherm  on May 12th, 2006 at 11:15 am

   I find it interesting that anyone would take the DaVinci Code movie seriously.

   Left Behind was fictionalized. So is the DaVinci code. So why are evangelical fundamentalists getting their shirts in a knot over it? I haven’t seen either movie and don’t care.

   As for the comment spam Christian blogs receive, if you are getting comment spam from people trying to sell Christian junk you have to wonder who would be dumb enough to buy it. It’s like telemarketing, just hang up. I totally ignore online advertising of any kind.

   I guess though, not everyone does or we wouldn’t have predators like that online. We can’t talk, Canada leads the way in telemarketing – it’s evil and preys on the uneducated and innocents who can’t help themselves.

   I too respect CT and their ethics. While I may read their articles, I wouldn’t buy sermons or books or tapes or music if they were selling it directly. That’s the nice thing about being poor, I don’t need things or want them, nor do I go into debt to get them. It’s enough to have a roof over my head and food on the table.

   I don’t need junk to be happy. I can live without going out to see movies like The Davinci Code. It’s not going to rattle my faith whether I watch it or not.

8. 8 Bene D  on May 16th, 2006 at 2:02 pm

   Sherm –

   I was unable to find the hard cover sales for Dan Brown’s book in Canada – Random House decided on 6 hundred thousand paper backs for distribution in Canada.

   According to Forbes, Dan Brown is smiling all the way to the bank.
   Hard cover sales alone – 76.5 million dollars world wide.
   He is number 12 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 which is a big deal list to the celebrities and the people that make their living off of them.
   The 76.5 million doesn’t factor in paperback or movie rights that I am aware of.

   Having said that, there is a backlash occurring on and off line as people tune out – they are speaking up indicating they are tired of the hype. Those that aren’t will keep it going for their own reasons and gains I guess.

   The Catholic Church, Opes Dei and denominations with a Brown mention certainly have the right and responsibility to remind people this is fiction, and to counter with their theology as they see fit.
   As for anyone else attempting to cash in – I can only guess at motives: altruism, Brown fans, fear, zealotry, celebrity, money or other things I can’t think of off the top of my head.

   Let’s assume 1.4 million books are sold and actually read in Canada. Add in paperback sales, and movie attendance – your disinterest puts you in the vast majority of Canadians not feeling or responding to The Da Vinci Code marketing pressure.
   If I’m hearing you properly, you saying as many are, you aren’t interested in the buzz or the sales hype, be it by guerilla, viral or direct marketing.

9. 9 Rachel Cunliffe  on May 16th, 2006 at 4:35 pm

   It’s great that you’re interested in blogs Michael and want to engage with bloggers. One thing I really value is transparency/honesty – if you want to point people to your resources why hide behind a false name, why not be straight up?

10. 10 Darren  on May 16th, 2006 at 5:52 pm

    Michael I’d echo Rachel’s comments.

    Your explanation is reasonable to me except that you did it under a false name? Perhaps you have two names (I know people who do, one for personal and one for professional work) but it is a little odd.

    Be very careful when leaving comments to be as transparent as possible (declaring interests) and to attempt to create comments that are genuniely relevant to the posts.

11. 11 Bene Diction  on May 24th, 2006 at 12:17 am

    This is what I took down in the mention in comment 4.
    I apologize for being crypic or dramatic, I was really stunned and surprised to find this and believed CT should know first, since I wasn’t sure when I orginally put this up at comment #4 what I’d found.

    Hi Ted:

    Couldn’t trace this today. This is what I got tonight.

    AT&T WorldNet Services ATT (NET-12-0-0-0-1)
    12.0.0.0 – 12.255.255.255
    CHRISTIANITY TODAY, INC CHRISTIA854-216-128 (NET-12-24-216-128-1)
    12.24.216.128 – 12.24.216.143

    # ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-05-11 19:10

    back4seconds (Michael Joseph) doesn’t have a profile other than non-profit and US. Email IP is 12.24.216.130.

    Regards,

    Bene D

12. 12 Bene Diction  on May 24th, 2006 at 1:46 am

    Mr. Herman:
    I agree with commenter #9.

    You are most welcome to write me anytime in your position at Christianity Today International if you feel I as a blogger can be of assistance to your company.

    By being transparent, you provide me the opportunity to make an informed choice on whether or not I can assist you in your work with CTI.

    You are welcome to comment, I believe you believe you when you say:

    ‘This was merely in order to add to the conversation that your post was beigging, not to spam your blog.’

    We’ll have to agree to disagree about the italized comment in the post above being spam.

1. 1 Decoding Micheal Joseph and Christianity Today Spam at Bene Diction Blogs On Pingback on May 23rd, 2006 at 11:42 pm