I had talked to someone about this the other day. I am always getting these messages asking if I want a guest blogger, or some other nonsense.
A while ago I read the Valve Employee Handbook, and posted a status update to that effect. I am actually surprised, since I really enjoyed it, but for some reason I didn’t elaborate. Which makes this message all the more humorous:
Hey there,I’m Tony and I recently started a video series on business related topics. I thought I’d reach out after the site popped up here in my quick research, hoping for some feedback on a video.
It highlights Valve’s recent employee handbook and what we (and companies, rather) can learn from it. If you’d be interested in sharing it or taking a look, I’d love to show it to you.
Cheers,
Tony Shin
That is from tonyshinj09@gmail.com, by the way. That is the first sign that something is odd, and had the subject not been, “Video on learning from Valve’s employee handbook” I would have just junked it. Note to you folks who are trying to do business with a generic GMail or other non-branded address, it probably isn’t going well. If you don’t have your own domain, at least skip having numbers in your address (unless that is in your name, which would be pretty awesome).
“Quick research” to be sure, considering I wrote a sentence about the handbook in April. This scam works because it is human nature to want to be in on the story, especially if it is before others have had a chance to get in on it. Sometimes I ponder how well I would do at writing spam. I would definitely have native speakers do the writing.