Today I got spammed from ACM. There were several annoying things about it:
- The fact that they use direct mail marketing in the first place. The email address they used is the one I used to register for SIGIR 2006, so at least they are using the “existing business relationship” loophole.
- They are still a dead tree society, mailing the CACM to all members. No matter what you think of this periodical, it’s silly for ACM to cling to the old publishing model like grim death.
- The message is cleverly worded to avoid discussion about the ACM digital library. In fact, ACM membership does not include access to the ACM digital library, so apparently they think membership is orthogonal to science. ACM members still have to pay $5 per article to download from there (nonmembers pay $10). If ACM membership included this instead of the CACM, then I would consider joining.
- The organization is now using preferential pricing. To quote:
Join ACM today and receive a 15% discount plus an ACM Free World Clock Calculator!
They included a link “just for me”. What justification is there for me to be offered a lower price than a new PhD in CS? And WTF is ACM doing giving away World Clock Calculators? Did they buy too many of those in the 80s? Do they offer toasters next month?
Can you imagine a world with an ACM that organized as a professional society? As a start, I want them to do the following:
- put science first by supporting open access to publications (like Usenix)
- treat their members on an equal footing without preferential pricing
- didn’t waste resources on useless trinkets
- didn’t use email to spam potential “customers” (I can’t really call them “members”).
They invited me to “… consider how valuable an ACM membership and Communications of the ACM magazine can be to your career”. I have. They are CRAP.