I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.

Well, are any of the kind any good anyway?
Those I have encountered mining for hard to find parts either
want me to pay them to tell me where to try to buy (if someone
pays them it won't be me...) or cheat the search engines
so you locate them while searching for just about any part,
while having really very little if anything of what they list.

If you have had some good experience with some of them,
please advise.

My only successfull experience was 5-6 years ago with Magnitude
Electronics
( www.magnitude-electronics.com ), they listed a SCSI chip which I
could
not find and really delivered (small quantity, they had large stock),
somewhat pricy,
perhaps a bit more than somewhat, I don't remember, but I got the
chips.

Dimiter

------------------------------------------------------
Dimiter Popoff Transgalactic Instruments

http://www.tgi-sci.com
------------------------------------------------------

larwe wrote:
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.

Didi wrote:
This "vendor" should be boycotted.


Well, are any of the kind any good anyway?
Those I have encountered mining for hard to find parts either
want me to pay them to tell me where to try to buy (if someone
pays them it won't be me...) or cheat the search engines
so you locate them while searching for just about any part,
while having really very little if anything of what they list.

If you have had some good experience with some of them,
please advise.

My only successfull experience was 5-6 years ago with Magnitude
Electronics
( www.magnitude-electronics.com ), they listed a SCSI chip which I
could
not find and really delivered (small quantity, they had large stock),
somewhat pricy,
perhaps a bit more than somewhat, I don't remember, but I got the
chips.

Dimiter

------------------------------------------------------
Dimiter Popoff Transgalactic Instruments

http://www.tgi-sci.com
------------------------------------------------------

larwe wrote:

I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":


If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.




I got so tired of the Partminer links coming up that I used Customize
Google to block all hits.

On 29 Sep 2006 16:07:55 -0700, "larwe" wrote:

I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.

After their low bait-'n-switch trick a year or two ago when they
stopped making data available for free, I made a mental note not to
ever consider them if I was looking for a rare component.

Earlier this year, I tried to find a source of Allegro UGN3235K
hall effect sensors. I contacted dozens of companies, many of whom had
it listed as "available" on their websites. A few answered my e-mails,
most didn't. Not one of them was able to supply this part. It's
probably the same with most other obselete components. Big promises
but no results.

If anyone's looking for UGN3235K devices, you can replace them
with a pair of Infineon TLE4906L chips facing each other.


Bob

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:56:09 +1000, the renowned Bob Parker
wrote:

On 29 Sep 2006 16:07:55 -0700, "larwe" wrote:

I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.

After their low bait-'n-switch trick a year or two ago

Believe it or not, it was almost 5 years ago (late 2001).

when they
stopped making data available for free, I made a mental note not to
ever consider them if I was looking for a rare component.

Earlier this year, I tried to find a source of Allegro UGN3235K
hall effect sensors. I contacted dozens of companies, many of whom had
it listed as "available" on their websites. A few answered my e-mails,
most didn't. Not one of them was able to supply this part. It's
probably the same with most other obselete components. Big promises
but no results.

If anyone's looking for UGN3235K devices, you can replace them
with a pair of Infineon TLE4906L chips facing each other.


Bob


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 01:41:26 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:


After their low bait-'n-switch trick a year or two ago

Believe it or not, it was almost 5 years ago (late 2001).


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany


Wow, where does the time go? Thanks for getting me more or less back
into sync. :-)

Cheers
Bob

"larwe" wrote in message
ups.com...
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.


I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to pay
for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a
catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd
think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their
prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually
by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further cock-ups,
such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to
me. The catalogues went in the bin.

Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery
service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get to
you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother.

This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure.

"Aly" wrote in
news
"larwe" wrote in message
ups.com...
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.


I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME
to pay for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5
for a catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard
of, you'd think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when
you see their prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they
sent them eventually by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking
3-weeks of further cock-ups, such that I had absolutely no faith in
anything I ever ordered getting to me. The catalogues went in the
bin.

Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery
service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never
get to you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother.

This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure.




RS stingy? Overpriced in many things, yes, but not stingy. Those paper
catalogs cost so much that it's amazing they can give them away at all. If
you paid actual cost for them, you'd pay £70 per set. You can always get
the DC ones. Also, you can use their site and you can set up any handle you
like on their site to get access to PDF's for free, with no need to have an
account with them. If you think that's stingy, you have forgotten the
meaning of generosity.

And no, I don't work for them, nor get any benefit other than what I
described, same as you can have.

Maplin's catalog is less than impressive now, but if they'd start putting
those tech notes back like they used to add to it, it would be worth the
money for those alone.

Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs. It's what
I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year figure,
three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make, and
they're trying to use CD's to save costs.

Lostgallifreyan wrote in message
...
Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs. It's
what
I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year figure,
three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make, and
they're trying to use CD's to save costs.

I know where you're coming from. My issue was more that RS insist on using
a courier, and from the onset with RS it was just one big hassle.

But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have
here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence
:-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every
transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages
so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list.
Too complicated for them today maybe....

"Aly" wrote in message
...
Lostgallifreyan wrote in message
...
Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs. It's
what
I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year figure,
three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make, and
they're trying to use CD's to save costs.

I know where you're coming from. My issue was more that RS insist on
using
a courier, and from the onset with RS it was just one big hassle.

But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have
here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful,
hence
:-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every
transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about
20-pages
so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to
list.
Too complicated for them today maybe....



Is that the Maplin cats you have back issues? I'm trying to find the
original manufacturers (Hung Chang) model number of the MF100 multifunction
counter so I can search it online, if you have a cat that list that
instrument the info might be on the page - it is for the currently stocked
MF1000 counter/function generator.

"Aly" wrote in
:

But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do
have here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still
useful, hence
:-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every
transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about
20-pages so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too
complicated to list. Too complicated for them today maybe....


That pegged Maplin neatly. It's a stupid move. Tandy failed in the high
street in the UK because of it, and Maplin succeeded so well that Tandy
mostly went back to the US where they operate more like Maplin did here. So
why Maplin now start to do what made Tandy fail I do not know. It's painful
to watch, so most of the time I don't watch.

Your point about RS and couriers I also recognise, I wish they'd reduce
costs by using the standard mail. The kind of logic that says that to get a
decent service you must use an expensive private courier is wasteful, and
the neglect reduces the quality of the main service, making a self-
fulfilling prophecy. Same logic that's currently making a crisis in
UK dentistry. That scandal is making street long queues now, it's too big
to hide, as will be the pollution of lots of tiny vans doing what a single
train used to do.

Aly wrote:
[supplier woes]
But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do have
here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful, hence
:-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every
transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about 20-pages
so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to list.
Too complicated for them today maybe....

I've got the "Spring/Summer 2006" Maplin catalogue. I'd never bother to
buy it, but the sales bod said there were vouchers in there which would
save me more than the catalogue cost on what I was buying anyway (which
they did) so it cost me about minus one pound. They have the 7400
series, 4000 series and transistor packages in there again (with a note
saying it's a result of feedback).

I completely agree about their change in direction though. It's awful. I
just don't know what they are trying to be - they're now crap for
components, crap for consumer electronics, crap for toys and crap for
computers. Their sole redeeming feature is that you can check stock at
your local store on-line so you can be disappointed without having to
leave the house

I've pretty much given up on Maplin for anything but "I need a 50k
trimpot to finish this off and I want it this afternoon" type
'emergencies'. Rapid and Farnell are my current favourites. Rapid's
catalogue (which I was sent gratis, without asking) is good.


Tim

"Aly" wrote in message
...
Lostgallifreyan wrote in message
...
Actually I wonder about the "£70 per set" figure for RS catalogs.
It's
what
I was told once, and I think it might have been the whole-year
figure,
three releases per year. The costs rise per set the fewer they make,
and
they're trying to use CD's to save costs.

I know where you're coming from. My issue was more that RS insist on
using
a courier, and from the onset with RS it was just one big hassle.

But as for Maplin. They've become an overgrown toy store. What I do
have
here are the catalogues from 1988 thru 1992 and they're still useful,
hence
:-) Being able to look up every 7400 device at a glance, and every
transistor package is just brilliant. It was like a total of about
20-pages
so I don't buy into their excuse today that they're too complicated to
list.
Too complicated for them today maybe....

I worked for Maplin in the Cardiff branch between '98 and 2001 while I
was at uni and got to watch the decline from the inside - it all started
with an over-eager purchasing manager who got promoted to where he could
do some damage. When I first started then the Cardiff branch was one of
the "old school" stores with a massive storeroom and a little shop at
the front mostly frequented by grubby fingered regulars or people
looking for something obscure that they couldn't get elsewhere. We were
even allowed to smoke in the storeroom - what luxury!

In '99 the shop was refitted and a large portion of the storeroom was
turned into shop space which meant that the building was full of the
stupid toys and trinkets that had become the latest rage and all there
was no room for the stuff people actually wanted. We lost nearly all the
regulars in a matter of weeks when we ended up continually being forced
to order in simple parts that always used to be carried in stock. In
fairness, the manager normally tried to get requested items carried as
stock but there was a limit to the amount of space available - which was
reduced from at least 40'x20' to 20'x10' shared with a sales counter.

It is a shame to watch it destroy itself when I used to have such a love
for the place. The Chatham branch is still one of the "old school" dingy
stores with a big storeroom but it increasingly becoming staffed by
muppets and children and they are beginning to discontinue the useful,
but obscure, bread and butter lifeblood. I lost count of the times that
someone would come in looking for a video drive belt and leave with a
bag full of other bits and pieces but, these days, they just leave empty
handed.

On Saturday, in article

"Aly" wrote:

"larwe" wrote in message
oups.com...
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

.....
This "vendor" should be boycotted.

I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to pay
for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting ?5 for a
catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd
think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their
prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually
by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further cock-ups,
such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to
me. The catalogues went in the bin.

BTDTGT in a large town!

Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery
service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get to
you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother.

This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure.

The ones I hate that have crap web programming, that wrongly identify
browsers and even worse claim a new browser is too old but they support
ancient microscrotum only.

I then also speak to technical people as if they are using web browsers

Supplier- "We cannot do[/support]...."

Me:- "I think I know the cause of the problem, can you tell
me the make and model of your telephone?"

Supllier - "Uh... model is ...."

Me:- "Sorry the problem is we only support telephone
conversations using a Binatone R3000, please get one of
these phones and contact us again.

Have a nice day"

I you think I am bitter and twisted, you must of course be mistaken
or judging me by your own standards :-^ :-^ :-^







Again for the humour impaired

^
^
^
^
:-^

--
Paul Carpenter |
http://www.pcserviceselectronics.co.uk/ PC Services
http://www.gnuh8.org.uk/ GNU H8 & mailing list info
http://www.badweb.org.uk/ For those web sites you hate

"Paul Carpenter"

Hi Paul

:-)

That kind of sounds like my conversation with PayPal at the moment. They
did a system upgrade about a month ago which messed up the reporting of some
Verified accounts to eBay. This is slowly trickling back onto the forums.

PayPal say it's eBay. eBay say it's PayPal. Well, through my own
determination (and access to multiple accounts) it's definitely PayPal.
I've now told them to stuff it (in polite terms) and STILL they keep on
bloody contacting me. I've finally resorted to totally blowing my top
earlier, and STILL they thank me for telling their useless staff to F-off!

I do have limits. It's usually about a month before I go crackers!

"Aly" wrote in message
news
"larwe" wrote in message
ups.com...
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.


I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to
pay
for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a
catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd
think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their
prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually
by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further
cock-ups,
such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to
me. The catalogues went in the bin.

Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery
service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get
to
you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother.

This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure.



To be fair to Maplin, they do give you vouchers whereby you can recover the
cost of the catalogue with your first purchase, unless you are just buying a
couple of tupp'ny resistors. RS are predominantly a trade supplier, and in
general run an excellent service, and have done for probably more years than
you've been alive. Their prices are no higher or lower than anyone else in
the trade component supply business. Their catalogue package is offered free
of charge to their trade customers, and in my experience always arrives next
day.

Any of us who are in business have to cover our costs, and that includes the
costs of advertising and catalogue producing. It's a fundamental tenet of
business practice, and if not observed, would soon lead to a company's rapid
demise in the market place. The cost of producing a catalogue package such
as RS or Farnell do, is huge, and I think that it is perfectly reasonable
for them to want to recover that cost. With trade purchasers who buy many
hundreds of pounds worth of stuff from them a year, then they do. With Joe
Punters who buy that one elusive component that they can't find anywhere
else, they don't.

PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's
where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't
work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services,
which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is
that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way.
They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big
boys who need it.

Arfa

Arfa Daily wrote:

"Aly" wrote in message
news
"larwe" wrote in message
ups.com...
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.


I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to
pay
for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a
catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd
think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their
prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually
by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further
cock-ups,
such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to
me. The catalogues went in the bin.

Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery
service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get
to
you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother.

This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure.



To be fair to Maplin, they do give you vouchers whereby you can recover the
cost of the catalogue with your first purchase, unless you are just buying a
couple of tupp'ny resistors. RS are predominantly a trade supplier, and in
general run an excellent service, and have done for probably more years than
you've been alive. Their prices are no higher or lower than anyone else in
the trade component supply business. Their catalogue package is offered free
of charge to their trade customers, and in my experience always arrives next
day.

Any of us who are in business have to cover our costs, and that includes the
costs of advertising and catalogue producing. It's a fundamental tenet of
business practice, and if not observed, would soon lead to a company's rapid
demise in the market place. The cost of producing a catalogue package such
as RS or Farnell do, is huge, and I think that it is perfectly reasonable
for them to want to recover that cost. With trade purchasers who buy many
hundreds of pounds worth of stuff from them a year, then they do. With Joe
Punters who buy that one elusive component that they can't find anywhere
else, they don't.

PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's
where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't
work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services,
which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is
that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way.
They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big
boys who need it.

Arfa


Partminer bought the old CAPS database, and then offered free access
for a short while to get you hooked. Before long you needed to pay for a
subscription to access their horrible, crooked, low resolution scans of
older parts. The place I was working made the mistake of taking out a
subscription. The next thing you knew, they were constantly on the phone
trying to sell us something else. They got hold of my name during the
free period, when I did a search for an old data sheet to repair a
damaged test fixture. They called and asked for me about once a week,
till management had to tell them to stop.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find

which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is
that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way.
They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big
boys who need it.

The tactic they are now employing _IS_ screwing everyone every which
way.

On Sun, 01 Oct 2006 12:57:41 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's
where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't
work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services,
which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is
that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way.
They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big
boys who need it.

Arfa

I got the impression that from day 1 they intended to get people
hooked with their free access to data sheets, then start charging for
it. Maybe I was mistaken...

Bob

PartMiner used to provide a very good free data service, and I guess that's
where most people on here knew them from. Obviously, the economics didn't
work out, so they had to start making charges for some of their services,
which moves them into a different client demographic. The bottom line is
that they are not some evil company out to screw everyone every which way.
They are just trying to stay in business and provide a service for the big
boys who need it.

I consider spammers to be evil.

It's perfectly reasonable to require reading ads in order to access
their data sheets. They could require joining an email list (for ads)
as long as the opt-out works and as long as they are up-front about
what the deal is. The magic word is informed consent.
They would have to specify something about how many and what
type of ads they were going to send.

It's not reasonble to sell/trade the email addresses they collect.
There is basically no way to opt-out from a system like that.
It is reasonable for them to forward ads for other people,
again, they have to be up front about how many/often and how big.

In theory, it might be reasonable (as in "informed consent") to
require an email address that will get sold, but I can't see
how to do that in practice. It would require that people sign
up with a disposable address. Would the advertisers accept their
end of that?

--
The suespammers.org mail server is located in California. So are all my
other mailboxes. Please do not send unsolicited bulk e-mail or unsolicited
commercial e-mail to my suespammers.org address or any of my other addresses.
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

"Aly" wrote in message
news
"larwe" wrote in message
ups.com...
I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.


I agree with this. I outright refuse to use suppliers that expect ME to
pay
for their advertising material. Maplin is one them, wanting £5 for a
catalogue. RS are so stingy with their catalogues it's unheard of, you'd
think they'd be giving them away on every street corner when you see their
prices. After LOADS of arguing I lost interest, they sent them eventually
by UPS/TNT? to a rural country location taking 3-weeks of further
cock-ups,
such that I had absolutely no faith in anything I ever ordered getting to
me. The catalogues went in the bin.

Buy our products *AND* buy our sales merchandise. Use *OUR* delivery
service that *WE* have a cut price contract with, even if it'll never get
to
you because the drivers are too lazy to even bother.

This methodology wouldn't work at my local Indian Restaurant I'm sure.


I was going to reply with some sense, but why bother with effort on
these deals - just tell PartsMiner to go and get stuffed. In fact, tell them
nothing, just move on. There are plenty of other parts suppliers just
waiting for real business, you don't need these arseholes - just boycott
them. RS are no better. I have an account with them, but, in fact, even if
you have an account, they're not interested
.... Johnny

On 29 Sep 2006 16:07:55 -0700 "larwe" wrote in
Message id: . com:

I stopped using PartMiner years ago, when they closed down all free
access to datasheets.

Today I received an email from PartMiner which says, in essence, "our
core business model is unprofitable, so we are now professional
spamwhores. Your contact details are being sold to anyone we can find
who will pay us a nickel":

If you would like to receive business or career related offers
from PartMiner Information Systems, you do not have to respond
to this e-mail. You can easily unsubscribe each time you receive
an e-mail from us if you don't find the information worthwhile. To
unsubscribe now, please scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for
instructions.

This "vendor" should be boycotted.

We stopped using them when we started getting forged semiconductors from
them. Buyer beware...