Mitch asked me what the most comments I’ve ever received on a blog entry was. I looked, and it’s currently 12 about the donotcall.gov program. I’m not sure why, but several of the folks visiting think I am the do not call list administrator.
I’ve gone through different stages of thought about this… initially one couple posted their phone number, so I just took the 3 seconds and went to the proper website and did it for them. I sent them a note, too. (No, they didn’t say thank you.) The next person I just wrote a nice note back and included the original article saying something like “you really ought to just do this yourself.” (No response.)
Then more seemed to trickle in as the first deadline was approaching. Since polite reasoning wasn’t going to work, I realized this was a job for Captain Sarcastic. My dad was visiting for the weekend and made a lot of suggestions that put this way over the top. It was rather cathartic because he spends a lot of time working with human resource departments.
I had actually taken this a step further than what’s there now and built an html form someone could fill out and send money via paypal. However, after worrying that this would be the moral-equivalent of selling weight loss scamspills, I took it down for the mail-in approach. Yes, I was really worried that someone would actually fill it out.
I had hoped this would just go away, but the back-and-forth court-congress challenges are keeping the “Do Not Call” program in the news. Last Friday I got another request to take someone off the list.
I’m know not alone, and I am somewhat thankful that I don’t see too many folks blogging while they’re bottle-feeding the severed head in their lap.
I am wondering if I should reconsider making it an online form so I can retire to Belize or France with my jillions.
It’s been gorgeous weather the last week and I capped off a 135 mile week with the Peninsula Metric Century route this Saturday. I’ll be at the Kitscap Color Classic next weekend, the semi-official last event of the season.
Excuse the butt-ugly style links. I’m fiddling with the style sheet so the links look a little more obvious than the previous scheme. There’s also an annoying bug where sometimes text doesn’t show up … I’ve seen it on other blogs and think it’s a movable type default issue. Unfortunately, the only time I have to play with this stuff is after my kids go to bed, which is currently around 10:30pm.
“Yes, I was really worried someone would actually fill it out.”
It could happen. Sarcasm can be a beautiful thing, but some folks have never learned to appreciate it, even in its least subtle forms. By the way, I envy the title Captain Sarcastic. 🙂
I have to comment just because I was mentioned! 🙂
You do have to admire (?) the stupidity of some people. Why on Earth would they send their information to wt8p.com to put them on a government list of any kind? There’s a common sense thing about this.