One of the many volunteer jobs I have taken on is to write what I have been calling my Vendor News column to be published in user group newsletters. The point was to summarize in one article new and updated products (software and books mainly) as they come out on the market. At the same time, it indicates through the use of codes which items are available for discount purchase through the user group, or free in exchange for writing a review. I suppose it would be fastest to simply show - as close as I can - how a listing would look in the column...

Menu Maker www.xara.com R - (Win 98/ME/2K/XP) Program to create DHTML menus within web pages.

The R means that you can obtain a free review copy by contacting Xara's marketing department. If there were a $ present, that would mean user group members can purchase the program for a discount by using special codes via a website or phone number or something. The column itself is stored in both plain-text format, and HTML in a ZIP file along with the actual PR messages that arrive from the Vendors. (If they send me one in HTML, I 'print' it to PDF so the editors who are getting the column don't have to worry about hidden codes inside messages.)

My criteria for submission is - I think - quite fair. I insist that any details about how to take advantage of an offer be explained in their PR message, along with their contact information. (So I don't have to waste any of MY time in explaining to anyone how to take advantage of an offer.)

To verify authentication of an offer, each message I receive has to pass through normal spam filtering tools. (Those with oddly written headers are discarded.) I also to a simple check of the contact information included to see if it matches that listed on the company's website, or via a WHOIS search on the domain. Again, any oddities noted are grounds for a message being discarded.

I also have a form setup on our user group website for those that can't seem to reach me any other way. In fact, I'd like to push that further so it could do a lot of the writing for this column for me. (Send submission info to a database, for example, which I just download each month.)

But, the biggest time waster continues to be this verification process. I get a LOT of messages from PR firms that are hired to do publicity for people that pay no attention to my guidelines at all. When I try to talk to the people involved, I'm ignored. Most refuse to send these messages to the e-mail address I created just for these submissions. Then, they get REALLY PO with me because I cut their finely worded PR message down to just a simple line or two. It is my impression that so many of these PR firms what their free advertising on their terms, without any consideration of the person on the other end. This is really annoying as I'm trying to do something that I think could be a great asset for both Vendors and users all over the world. (Hence the lack of columns that have been published for long periods of time.) I simply don't have the time to investigate all of this junk!

Here's a link for the actual program guidelines, etc.:
Vendor News Program Guidelines

Any comments on how I can make this work without going nuts would be greatly appreciated!