Hmmm... ***Updated***

I just received an email from NPN/Otdoor Photo Gear store (one of NPN's sponsors) about their black Friday deals. I never shopped at the OPG and would otherwise never receive an email from them. I value keeping my mailbox junk mail free and would hate to find out that someone was giving out my email address for another company's marketing purposes. And it would be a pretty big deal for me if I found out that the forum I have put my trust in in keeping my information private was not living up to that expectation. Am I the only one who finds this a little bothersome?

I talked to Jesse about this and he just laughed, needless to say he wants nothing to do with this forum after the last blow out and still is wondering why do I still bother. Maybe I still have some faith left in people who make this place special. But now I'm wondering if my trust has been misguided. I hate to scratch on fresh wounds but this once again hit the spot.

And in advance if I have offended anyone with my lack of expertise in marketing schemes I do apologize. And if there is a privacy statement anywhere on this forum that deals with this issue I would really like to read it so I know if I ever agreed to this in the first place and just missed it. I usually click "no" on websites that ask if I want emails from sponsors so I'd be surprised if I missed it since the sponsor thing is relatively new here.

So am I missing something?

Update

We will no longer use the NPN email system to send "promotional" or general-interest email.

In order to maintain communication with the NPN membership on issues of interest, we have created a NPN News bulletin board - full info in the NPN News & Updates thread. Please take a moment to view that post!

For those who wish to continue receiving the monthly NPN/OPG Newsletter or other promotional info from the NPN/OPG Store, you can sign up to receive it here. A link to the newsletter and other promotional announcements will also be provided on the NPN News board.

We hope you find this latest change useful and more acceptable!

Alexs,

I'm gonna have Jim look into it. Thanks.

Aleks - you probably have NPN emails enabled on your preferences page, in which case you'll periodically get such offers from NPN and its sponsors, though they're pretty rare. If you prefer not to receive those messages, you can go into preferences and deselect that option. Easy-peasy.

I got the same email.

I started getting these too I was wondering why and where I got signed up for them.

Rick, I want to get NPN emails to let me know about new posts so I did sign up for that. What I don't want is the sponsors to have access to my email address and trash my mailbox with spam. And BTW, this might be a dumb question but where do I go to edit my email notification preferences anyway?

Okay, well, I think "trashed" with spam is a bit melodramatic given that there may have been two emails sent in the last few months, but, regardless, you do have complete control over what you do and don't receive. You can modify your email preferences by clicking on the "Preferences" link in the green bar just below where the moderators' names are listed. There's also an unsubscribe link in the email that you received. That should take care of it.

Aleks, at the top of the forum page, at the left side of the green bar is a link to "Preferences"....HOWEVER, I don't see anything that allows a member to select or unselect what e-mails they get from NPN or from associated companies (i.e. spam). The only choices I see are for allowing administrators and/or other users to e-mail you. I don't think that the retailers that NPN has an association with qualifies as either an administrator or other user.
That said, I got the same e-mail you did and didn't have a problem with it since they don't e-mail very often, but the lack of an easy way to stop the spam is a bit of a concern.
Rick, I posted at about the same time you did. The e-mail preferences don't address the type of e-mails that Aleks is complaining about, and having to "opt-out" of something you don't want to begin with smacks of the same kind of questionable tactics that Facebook gets complaints about. Members should be able to choose to get these e-mails and not be subjected to them (yes, I know they're infrequent) unless they want to get them.

Alexs and others,

If you dont want to receive this type of email, go into preferences and right underneath the timezone block, uncheck the box for receive emails from the NPN administrator. This won't affect other boxes you've checked for notifications of forum posts and such.

I got an email from someone who apparently lives in Quatar and is dying from some rare form of cancer--and they want to give me 2 million dollars worth of photo gear as their last wish--i wonder if they got my name from NPN...anyways i sent them my bank account info and i can't wait to get the big delivery of gear!

Aleks, part of the benefit of NPN membership is getting discounts on photo gear from sponsors we work with. If you don't want to receive these, do as Rick and Jack have stated - and as per the directions at the bottom of the email;

You are receiving this email as a member of the Nature Photographers Network. To unsubscribe, log on to the NPN website and from any forum or gallery, select the Preferences link. On the Preferences screen, uncheck the box to receive email from the Nature Photographers Administrators. For further assistance, contact us at editor@naturephotographers.net .

If you are still unhappy with your association with RMNP or with the way things are going, please let me know ASAP I will gladly refund your membership.