Pathfinder 1E Has Paizo been selling my address?

[ssampier]

Darn right I shot first. I shot first and I'd do it again.

Kool. I'll take the T-shirt in Size Large:

"Joshua Shot First"

with Paizo's logo on the back.

 

[Crothian]

So, how is getting a single piece of junk mail such a terrible thing that it spawns a three page thread?

 

[GwydapLlew]

I am always glad to see how the internet affects people's thought patterns.

"I received this advert."

"This must obviously come from Paizo."

"Paizo stinks!"



It's almost like it's 4th edition time again or something.

 

[diaglo]

Yes, it was sent from WotC (by an ad agency, on their behalf). However, WotC does not have my address and would not send Bryon something with "Dragon" in the business field unless that was how his address appeared for them. The mailing list was collected seemingly from the old subscriber list WotC had for Dragon/Dungeon and RPGA members. That's what the thread is about.

Or I guess it's actually about how much folks hate advertising, but that was the question posed.

check out the Charles Ryan fan mail link from my first post to this thread.

have you entered anything on the WotC site to win product? have you filled out any customer surveys? have you sent in reply cards? did you submit an entry to the campaign contest Eberron won?



i finally got 2 of the postcards last night. they are an almost perfect match to the 100+ i had received from Charles before. i'm waiting to see if i get any more or if they've fixed that problem. this time i got one with my real name on it. and one for Diaglo, whoever that is.

diaglo "small d people" Ooi

 

[reveal]

IF ANY of you looked at the card it is from WOTC themselves.

But I want my righteous indignation dammit!

 

[JoshuaFrost]

Just when this thread had started to fade away, I have to go and bring it back from the dead.

We did a full audit of our privacy systems and verified that any lists we generate for third parties obey your privacy settings. IE, if Science Fiction Book Club wants to buy our subscriber list we only provide names that allow that information to be sent. This is good.

However, it appears that Wizards of the Coast did ask us for our list a few months back. It is WotC's right to ask for this information; they quite legally own that list of subscribers. We were not aware they were using the list for marketing purposes (and nor was our contact at WotC who asked for it in the first place) and had we known this was for target marketing we'd have provided them with a much more appropriate list. We've let them know we can give them that and they've asked us to do so and are scrapping the list they used for the D&D Chess mailer.

We're also adding a notation on our website (paizo.com) to clarify that, with respect to Dragon and Dungeon subscriber data, Wizards is NOT a third party. They own the subscriber list--they can do with it as they please. Keep in mind, though, that our new list we're providing them is mindful of all privacy settings--we're not going to allow that mistake to be made again.

I should also clarify that several lists were used in order to generate this target marketing campaign. The Dragon and Dungeon subscriber list was just one of those.

I also want to give you folks a heads-up that, according to our WotC contact, one additional mailing has already gone out to this list. Yes, more mail is coming. However, the new list that is mindful of privacy settings is now in place and WotC has scrapped the one they used for this campaign.

Paizo apologizes for any inconvenience this has caused. I personally apologize for posting some unintentionally incorrect information.

 

[freebfrost]

Classy all the way.

Thanks Joshua!

 

[IcyCool]

Thanks Joshua, it really sucks to be the right hand and not know what the left hand is doing, eh?

I, for one, am impressed that Paizo and WotC are fixing this and that WotC is interested in honoring the privacy settings that Paizo customers have.

 

[BryonD]

That would also make sense in my case, because I've been a Dragon subscriber for years and years. I was living at my current address for a couple of years before Paizo took over. But as I've said and Bryon has attested, it's not a question of if Dragon's subscriber list was used for this mailer. It's provable that it was.

Just to clarify, I am 100% certain it came from Dragon, but it seems extremely plausible that it is a pre-Paizo thing. So much so that if they say it isn't them then it is settled for me.


EDIT: Or what Joshua said above, which I missed at the time I posted this...

Not that I really gave a flip to begin with.
If I start getting political or crap investment stuff or somesuch with "Dragon" on it, I'll be ticked.

I gave WotC my address and they mailed me a flyer. Ok. (Not arguing with you personally JustKim)

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Just when this thread had started to fade away, I have to go and bring it back from the dead.

We did a full audit of our privacy systems and verified that any lists we generate for third parties obey your privacy settings. IE, if Science Fiction Book Club wants to buy our subscriber list we only provide names that allow that information to be sent. This is good.

However, it appears that Wizards of the Coast did ask us for our list a few months back. It is WotC's right to ask for this information; they quite legally own that list of subscribers. We were not aware they were using the list for marketing purposes (and nor was our contact at WotC who asked for it in the first place) and had we known this was for target marketing we'd have provided them with a much more appropriate list. We've let them know we can give them that and they've asked us to do so and are scrapping the list they used for the D&D Chess mailer.

We're also adding a notation on our website (paizo.com) to clarify that, with respect to Dragon and Dungeon subscriber data, Wizards is NOT a third party. They own the subscriber list--they can do with it as they please. Keep in mind, though, that our new list we're providing them is mindful of all privacy settings--we're not going to allow that mistake to be made again.

I should also clarify that several lists were used in order to generate this target marketing campaign. The Dragon and Dungeon subscriber list was just one of those.

I also want to give you folks a heads-up that, according to our WotC contact, one additional mailing has already gone out to this list. Yes, more mail is coming. However, the new list that is mindful of privacy settings is now in place and WotC has scrapped the one they used for this campaign.

Paizo apologizes for any inconvenience this has caused. I personally apologize for posting some unintentionally incorrect information.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to track down the, umm... leak.

I was slightly worried, because for the first time since Dungeon dropped Polyhedron I have been considering a subscription. If you wonder if the Adventure Paths generate interest, well, yes - if they involve pirates.

The Auld Grump