Finally... a way to eliminate the annual arrival of those dinosaur Yellow Pages.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/ allows you to opt out* of receiving enormous wastes of paper that were useful prior to 1989.  Click it.  USE IT.

www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org

* A non-binding petition is submitted to the local Yellow Pages distribution machine

Comments

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

There is no national no-delivery organization like the National Do Not Call Registry (https://www.donotcall.gov/). Individual Yellow and White Page organizations state that you can call them and they will put you on a list to not deliver books. But they are not held liable or accountable if the book shows up anyway. www.YellowPagesGoesGreen .org will contact the publishers with the sign up forms to have them "opt out" the individual or business that signs up. It will be the responsibility of the publishers to act in accordance to the consumer’s demand

There's nothing in what this group does that will prevent the publishers from sending the books.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Can't hurt!

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I don't trust giving yet another company/org my address.

They say they aren't going to sell it off.

There's no way to prove they haven't done so.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

"There's no way to prove they haven't done so."

Incorrect. If there's one thing that's more common on the internet than sites scamming for addresses, it's users complaining about those sites. And a simple g00gle search for yellowpagesgoesgreen.org shows a plethora of positive feedback and links from established third party green organizations.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

And have any of those people doing the positive feedback used trick names to prove whether or not the org sold their names off?

Like I said - there's no way to be sure they haven't sold you name off.

Do YOU know which companies you order things from or give your info to, have sold off their data?

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

actually, whenever my father has to give his name, email, etc for a new thing, he will use a different title or suffix, or transpose a few of the letters, use a different middle initial, etc. this way he knows when he starts getting things sent to certain names, where they got the info.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I have thought of that, and I had heard of it, for example, giving a name as John LL Smith, when ordering from LL Bean.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

In the process of signing up, I too noticed that this is merely a "petition", and in no way a binding list to not deliver.

I signed up anyway, but I now rue such decision as I realize I just confirmed a good e-mail address for possibly nothing.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Not, I suspect, in and around Davis Square, but there are still people and places where phone directories are very important. The internet is not universally accessible. I don't want one myself, but I hope they don't go out of business quite yet.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Hopefully we'll be able to blanket the country with wireless before Obama's 8 years are up.

[gwodder.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the resulting tumors will help me tune into my daily entertainment fix!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it'll combine with all the mercury in those vaccines you got as a kid that gave you autism.

[gwodder.livejournal.com]

i cultivated this autism on purpose

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

lern moar science

[gwodder.livejournal.com]

i'm too tumor-ridden/autistic to lern moar science today

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, as noted above, the opt-in is totally voluntary, meaning the Yellow Pages will ignore this list completely and still dump these books on everyone's front porch.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Someone could use a little more Hope!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Obama, I believe in. But I also believe in the power of greed over the power of doing the right thing (see also: John Thain's whining about how those Merrill Lynch bonuses were totally justified because, and I quote, "nothing happened in the market or the economy.")

[m00n.livejournal.com]

You know you can always call the phone company and order one if you want it, right?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I signed up, although I can tell you right now that the Yellow Pages sells way too much in advertising for them to pay any attention to this list. They'll take the list, say thank you, wipe their ass with it, and deliver them again next year.

I'm especially annoyed because I live in a duplex with eight people total, so they dump a pallet of the things on the porch. Nobody's taken one in.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Hey, maybe we should ship them en masse back to the Yellow Pages.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Nah, too expensive.

Let's built a fort for the homeless out of 'em.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

You could sign up for each apartment with a different name and a different e-mail address.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I could, but I can't speak for my fellow residents. I can let 'em know about the site, though!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Thank you for posting this useful link.

Like junk mail, phone books are now just a means of taking money from consumers and generating profit for few and tremendous amounts of waste for all.

I do not agree, however, that phone books are useless. Wait until you need to place a call when the high speed cable or power goes out. Also, not everyone is an Internet-savvy 20/30-something. Many people from older generations still rely on them.

But still, considering the other avenues available now, it should be an opt-in, not an opt-out.

My only suggestion is to note in your original post that this is a petition to opt-out, and is in no way binding (such as the national do not call registry).

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Wait until you need to place a call when the high speed cable or power goes out

This is why I went ahead and stored all the important emergency numbers (plumber, electrician, landlord) on my cell-phone. And if you're REALLY paranoid, keep a solar-chargeable battery handy!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

That's not paranoid enough: I use a land line* because cell phone towers are typically powered off the main electrical grid, but landline telephone service usually has its own dedicated power source and will remain in service in all but the most severe outages. Of course, if the power is out, who would I call?

* I have a land line, but that's not really why.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Of course, if the power is out, who would I call?

Ghostbusters!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Always!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Well, for something as serious as total grid failure, that's a separate issue. I'm talking about Internet croaking or power outage in just a house.

[ron_newman]

Of course, if the power is out, who would I call?

NStar, for starters.

[dmcgettrick.livejournal.com]

What happens when the aliens come and use our satellites against us...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

They can do that?

[dmcgettrick.livejournal.com]

you bet your sweet ass they can

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Oh, they already are. That's why Dish Network is so desperate to get you to sign up, the aliens can't send the mind control signals over cable.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

not everyone is an Internet-savvy 20/30-something.

Like us 40-somethings who use rotary dial phones and can't figure out why TV went away.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

TV didn't go away yet, except FOX.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

And what else is worth watching, young feller?!?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

(LOL) Don't you need to get to the Old Time Country Buffet in the Meadow Glenn Mall for dinner?

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Dang it, I've been trying to post this reply from my manual typewriter for 3 hours and its still not working!

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

Looks like just another junkmail address harvester to me, but I'll try it by way of exhausting my remedies. I don't expect it to stem the flow, though. I'm still behind the aldermen's attempt to get them classed as litter unless somebody opts IN.

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

one time the internet stopped working and i got DESPERATE for a phone book.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Google SMS (http://www.google.com/mobile/default/sms.html)

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Mine is.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Ditto.