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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nothing to see here" data-source="post: 3061089" data-attributes="member: 16432">of course your address is being soldSubscription lists of all kinds (and in particular magazine subscription lists) are worth a fortune to anybody with an interest in marketing to a pre-targeted audience.More and more now markters are moving from the old 'carpet bomb' model to a 'laser-precision model" they don't want to waste money sending stuff to people who may or may not be there, or who lie completely outside of the demographics they are trying to reach.Well, if someone is a Dragon subscriber you already know a fair amount about their likely gender, age, income range, geographic location, family status and recreational interests.  All of which is gold if you are trying to sell to one of these targets.At worst performance this strategy is far cheaper, its targeted, and it's almost guaranteed a response rate much higher than other direct mailouts.   In some cases It also ensures that opinion leaders are penetrated.  I'd reckon that the kind of gamer who subscribes to Dragon is far more likely to influence his/her friends' game-related purchases.  So if you are in that industry, it makes sense to go after the subscribers.This is big business and worth big money to the holders of large subscription lists.  Even if you specifically check off the "don't share" my address box when you subscribe to something don't be shocked if your address get's shared anyway.  Believe me, I've been party to such transactions.Most respectable companies (such as a Paizo, I would only assume) do take great pains to keep their lists away from the total junk-mail and spam-peddlers, but list selling remains a underpublicized source of revenue for most major periodicals.The same goes for e-mail lists and now more and more...targeted web based advertising as well.  It's worth remembering that when you sign up for something 'free'...the space where you enter your e-mail address is, in fact, worth something.   Not much by itself.  Nut with 50,000 other (valid) e-mail addresses, worth a lot.There are lots of elaborate ways you can protect yor address and info from being mined this way.  My favorite is quite simple though...Throw the crap out and forget about it.  You may not get the 2 seconds of your life back, but it will save you a whole lot of stress compared to fighting the system.</blockquote>

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