Some correspondents are in a state of sulphurous anger:
* Why the Americans are not helping the Syrian protesters in ousting their president? the president of Syria a s*n of b***h have killed thousands of its own people and its continuing [asterisks inserted].
Some are desperate to make money:
* Weekend Deal : Buy Carrera Set & Aspen perfume on 62% Discount
* Looking for something completely different and hilarious for your next Birthday party?!!
* Busty models available at Gurgaon. Call [number withheld]. Click here for sizzling photos!
* Would you like to have this domain coconuthairoil.net?
* Dear letters@bsmail.in. Hello, good day…We are one of the leading manufacturers of Steel security doors, road barriers, fences, and extension doors in China. We are looking for oversea agents, wonder if we could commence business with your firm.
Others sound pathetically lonely:
* Letters, Your friend mailb3410 would like to add you as a friend on Flirt.
* Come spy on my Facebook Port. Ahoy there Letters, [name withheld] is inviting you to join Facebook. Once you join, you’ll be able to see updates, photos and more from all of these friends ...and share your own!
* I’m missing you on Rayshoo, Find me here!
* Hey letters, Check out my photos on Facebook!
* Hi letters! I have added you as a friend on Quepasa.com
…okay, and these people are plain nuts:
* Hi letters, Your buddy [name withheld] is giving you a fantastic opportunity to claim a free t-shirt from Teesort.com. Click image below to get a T-shirt worth Rs. 399 absolutely FREE!
* i have found the PM to be very effeminate from the way he talks and his daily dealings with other ministers. A PM should be strong and effective and not meek and submissive which actually in turn helps the other ministers to loot the nation. he … have a womanly nature. [bold in original]
The url letters@bsmail.in, for those who may not read our opinion pages, is the email address for readers who want to comment on the paper’s content (or lack thereof) or air an opinion about current affairs or issues. A trawl through the daily haul – a small sampler of which is reproduced above – suggests that not everyone understands that purpose and some interpret it liberally.
So, in addition to regular correspondents is an assortment of writers who want to kill or annihilate the corrupt, other religious groups or anybody they consider deviant (including some of our columnists and writers), composers of near thesis-length opinions that they just want out there in the ether and a variety of research houses who unilaterally advise us on the stock markets.
None of this correspondence is junk or bulk mail and it forms at least a third of the daily mailbag to this address.
For consumer product companies – which a newspaper essentially is – the received wisdom about the worldwide web is that it is a hugely useful tool for real-time user feedback. That is why most of the world’s large brands have facilities on their websites for customer responses and a growing number of CEOs write periodic blogs for customers and other external stakeholders (most of them are deadly boring, though). Indeed, given the number of irate customers who’ve copied us in on complaints to sundry banks, finance companies, airlines and appliance makers, the power of www is immense and far-reaching.
For instance, the Net has enabled us to react to reader comments and suggestions far more quickly. Today, we’ve instituted alterations to content within days of reader demand. By contrast, a reader from Manipur and one in Lucknow demanded a Hindi edition in 1986. Our Hindi edition was launched in February 2008 and the farthest east it reaches at present is Kolkata.
But the remarkable point about web-enabled letter writing is that, apart from the speed and sheer bulk this immediacy enables, letter-writing behaviour hasn’t altered significantly. With the exception of people hoping to interest Business Standard in a variety of goods and services and the lonely hearts, we continue to enjoy the regulars who comment thoughtfully and seriously on a range of subjects and those who constructively admonish us for errors of omission and commission. In the days before the Net, these letters typically arrived, sometimes three or four at a time, carefully and surprisingly legibly handwritten, in those trademark blue-green Inland Letters of the Indian Postal Service.
The nutters didn’t take so much trouble: they sent their feverishly inscribed diatribes, taking wide liberties with grammar, punctuation, spelling and abuse, on thick yellow postcards with illegible signatures and no forwarding address. Their 21st century equivalents are those who spew similar invective and bear email addresses such as, purely as an example, rajesh123 or abhishek678.
All of this makes the job of the letters editor interesting and entertaining. But it also suggests that corporations that rely on the net as a proxy for consumer behaviour can easily be misled.
