While we are debating about how to open up social networks open, there are some who have come up with a new way of spamming. Build a social networking site, lure people in and spam all their contacts. I got a couple of invites, but I have developed a habit of rejecting before accepting invites. However, it is quite easy for sites to get memberships nowadays. People are constantly trying to improve, they are trying new tools and getting to be an early bird is nowadays a privilege. And bloggers have become the most vulnerable because of their desire to be the first to report the new sites.
Apparently Quechup (also spelled by many as Quetchup) has been sending out emails to contacts of their members, without any notification. This hurts. Unsolicited email without consent is spam! And now the ones who had signed up are firing back, they are spreading the word about it. And this kind of negative publicity catches up pretty quickly.
As Scoble says, this will raise the bar for accepting invites for new tools. So, watch your way before you go down Quechup way.
Probably Quechup has all this written down in the disclaimer. But if it deviates heavily from the normal expectation of users, it needs to notify them about it in a bolder way, not in the fine print. Else it will be called spamming, or worse, breach of trust!
