I got an e-mail from Lori Spotts of Market Diagnostics International, saying Trains is "conducting a research study among its subscribers". Just wondering if anyone else has gotten this, and if it's legit?
I did. When I went to respond, McAfee gave me a "WHOA" notice, flagging the survey site as being risky to visit. So I didn't bother. Is it a scam?
It's been some time since my opinion was requested, but I do not feel that what you received is a scam--unless it was not Trains that sent it to you.
Johnny
Got it. Filled it out. All they seemed to be interested in is if you work for a railroad.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
If its really a Trains survey you'd probably have access to it right here on Trains' website. Not having it here would be kinda stupid.. unless its a bogus survey or Trains doesn't want to hear from its online readers.
Ulrich is right: all requests came to me directly from Kalmbach.
My colleague got one, and he (we) took the survey.
The first question had no answer in his case. If TRAINS paid for that survey, man did they get ripped off.
The rest of the questions really weren’t any of their business.
Interestingly, my friend found the email in his spam box. What does that tell you?
TRAINS may (“may”) have paid good money for the survey, but it seems somebody might be out to destroy their reputation.
Also, I myself read a threatening note at the email’s end. You would expect threats from corrupt, hateful outfits. If TRAINS did in fact pay for the stupid survey, shame on them! If not, and they are a victim, they should take legal action against the outfit using the TRAINS logo.
It would be nice to hear from the horse’s mouth on this one …
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
Lori Spotts does check out as a senior project manager at Market Diagnostics International. However, information on the company is scant.
Norm
I got one. The purpose of the survey was to figure out who in the readership was related to the rail industry. If it was not an official Trains survey it was probably conducted by an advertising firm that sells advertising to see how many in Trains audience are related to the railroad industry. I think it was a harmless survey and did not see any hostile intent. I'm in IT and have three anti-intrusion software packages and did not get an alert from either of the three. The survey was voluntary and provided a passcode to see who specifically responded......no issues there.
Norm48327 Lori Spotts does check out as a senior project manager at Market Diagnostics International. However, information on the company is scant.
Deliberately so for most Market Reserach firms. As part of their survey efforts they also pay people to conduct surveys, which as you can imagine results in massive spam if their contact info was freely available.
Hello, Kalmbach?
Kalmbach management does not necessarily read these forums... and the moderators might not get to them for quite a while... so the best thing to do would be to contact Kalmbach directly... look at the bottom of most any page and you will find a bunch of links... click on the one with the big "K" logo... then on the page that appears, at the bottom will be another bunch of links... one of them being, "Contact Customer Service"... click it and follow the directions presented...
To get this thread noticed quickly by the moderators... click the small yellow triangle (with a "!" in it) at the bottom left of any posting to "report" the thread... just state that you are asking the moderators to pass the question along to their superiors... that should do the trick, also.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Semper VaporoTo get this thread noticed quickly by the moderators... click the small yellow triangle (with a "!" in it) at the bottom left of any posting to "report" the thread... just state that you are asking the moderators to pass the question along to their superiors... that should do the trick, also.
Did that yesterday. No response so far.
I took the survey...to me it was an attempt to determine the footprint of the magazine. Is it a hobby publication or a trade publication? Somewhere in between with a tilt toward the hobby.
The questions about Railway Age and Progressive Railroading was the key.
Ed
I took the survey and all answers were that I am not involved with the RR industry. At that point the survey stated I wasn't the respondent type they were looking for and thanked me for my time. Nothing seemed fishy.
Hi Gang, Hope everyone is doing well this rainy Friday! The survey is for real: It is the follow up to a phone survey we are doing. If you get the survey, I hope you'll take the time to complete it. It's very helpful to us. Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend! Best, Jim
Jim Wrinn Hi Gang, Hope everyone is doing well this rainy Friday! The survey is for real: It is the follow up to a phone survey we are doing. If you get the survey, I hope you'll take the time to complete it. It's very helpful to us. Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend! Best, Jim
Thanks, Jim, for the update on the survey!
Some of us have enough 'seasoning' that our first tendencies tend toward the paranoid, and protectionist... Particularly, where things "On-Line" are involved; our vocabularies now encorporate words like: Phishing, Hacked (ing?), Requests to 'Update' one's information, etc. Can cause the release of excess stomach acid, and to make one reach for the anti-acid.... Well, You get my drift.
Surprises, particularly involving Computers, and their information content; raise Red Flags for many of us... I understand that some communications where polls are concerned, sometimes can skew results;then again, sometimes a 'direct question, asked to an audience can also gain some information, as well.. Admittedly, it might take some manual sorting..
But that is why Professionals get the 'big' bucks.'
{Professional: defined as someone from'out of town', with a briefcase.]
MP173 I took the survey...to me it was an attempt to determine the footprint of the magazine. Is it a hobby publication or a trade publication? Somewhere in between with a tilt toward the hobby. The questions about Railway Age and Progressive Railroading was the key. Ed
I've noticed a lot of advertising that's more industry related. Things or services that the average person isn't going to buy. Trains always has had at times such ads, the frequency of them seems to ebb and flow. Now it seems they are more frequent again. Nothing wrong with that, printed media needs all the ad revenue it can get.
On a related note, the ad for LEADER on page 19 of the August issue made me laugh. GE's Trip Optimizer is a thousand times better. I think the ad is for LEADER's auto-throttle version. It's somewhat better than the original version that just prompted the engineer to change settings, but not by much.
Jeff
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