Talk:Plaxo

Untitled
More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Spam_%28electronic%29#Plaxo.3F that could be worked in, but needs NPOV work.

Mentioning David Coursey in the criticism section isn't really worthy of the article. Coursey isn't even that relevant of a figure. If we want a better example, perhaps use Joel Spolsky.

I'm not quite understanding what Coursey's compaint was exactly, "Plaxo received criticism from technology journalist David Coursey, who was upset about receiving a number of requests from Plaxo users to update their contact information..." - He received requests from people wanting HIM to change THEIR information? That doesn't make much sense... Wegsjac 00:13, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

I agree with the comment above, especially that the nature of Coursey's complaint is unclear. However, my guess is that Coursey's complaint actually relates to an important and current controversy on unintended and unwanted sharing of personal information.

Let's call that topic "Privacy". The controversy is with Plaxo Pulse in which, at the time of writing, all new connections (people) that a person adds into Pulse are pushed out to all other connections. Users appear to have no control over who receives that information. In Plaxo's responses they assert that Pulse is a social network, and by definition (to them) this means information is open to all. Some users view this as a violation of Plaxo's own privacy policy. In my opinion the issue of privacy -- specifically the users' control of their privacy -- probably should to be addressed in all discussions of social networking platforms.

Related questions are: do users clearly understand who can see their information; is the policy transparent and easy to understand; is there a mechanism for the user to control their privacy; how granular are the control mechanisms (e.g. can a user block specific persons, or block specific pieces of information from being automatically distributed); what risks are users exposed to (e.g. phishing, stalking).

In essense, to what extent can users trust their online social network?

The Plaxo forum currently has at least one thread from concerned users on this topic at http://forum.plaxo.com/showthread.php?t=4357

- AdmiralSven (talk) 23:18, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

What's the best way to add this information since I'm an employee?

The Comcast deal closed in July 2008 -

Comcast announced its intent to acquire Plaxo as a subsidiary of Comcast Interactive Media on May 14, 2008, and completed the deal July 1, 2008.

- 66.151.128.22 (talk) 20:07, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Critism section needs expansion
There's definitely more to the story about Plaxo criticism than one tech journalist. A lot of people thought of them as practically synonymous with spam, and still may. See "Spam, or Not?", "Now That Plaxo Spam Has Annoyed Enough People, It's Time To Fade It Out?", and "Plaxo: Now With Less Evil" for examples and potential sources. William Pietri (talk) 21:06, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Since there have been comments since Jan about the "Criticism" section not being quite appropriate (I suspect it was posted by the journo himself to drive traffic? who else would put that in there?), I have renamed it privacy and it is open to others to describe the issues in a more encyclopedic way. JNC 14:48 31 Aug 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.106.235.192 (talk) 21:49, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Dubious business practices
Plaxo is not a serious service. In my personal case they have ignored a termination of a free of charge trial service twice and charge my credit card. 81.210.176.112 (talk) 22:43, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Easy - charge back with your credit card. Why are you posting this here? Lexlex (talk) 11:33, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Comcast acquires Plaxo
someone else could probably modify this article better than i could...

May 14, 2008 Comcast is adding a social dimension to its services through the acquisition of Plaxo, a deal the two companies announced Wednesday afternoon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the purchase price is thought to be in the $150 to $170 range. The acquisition is a big win for Plaxo, whose Pulse social network service, with 1.5 million active monthly users, has been overshadowed by the likes of Facebook and MySpace. It's a smart move by Comcast, which can enhance the user experience across its 14 million high-speed Internet subscribers, 3 million voice customers, and 24.2 million cable subscribers. The acquisition is built on a preexisting relationship. In May 2007, Comcast partnered with Plaxo to offer a networked address book to subscribers of its various services. Comcast is Plaxo's largest customer and partner, with Plaxo hosting all Comcast subscriber e-mail address book accounts. http://www.news.com/8301-13953_3-9944352-80.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sadchild (talk • contribs) 11:30, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Malware?
Somehow I ended up with this Plaxo program on my computer, and I never installed anything ( I don't have a pre-installed version of Windows, and nobody used the comp except me, this is definitely new, and some sort of malware). Is this company involved in malware? It should be mentioned in the article if so. Brentt (talk) 03:40, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

A SCAM called PLAXO
I received an invitation to join PLAXO (9/2008) from one of my LinkedIn connections. The funny thing is that the person later told me they didn't recall sending out invitations.

In any case - stupid me took the bait; signed on to PLAXO using the same credentials I used for LinkedIn. A fast splash screen appeared, then my new account page. I was curious about that screen - so went back in my browser and captured it. It was a screen with my username and password filled in, along with a reference to LinkedIn.

And guess what? My LinkedIn contacts received invitations to join PLAXO. Yes!! without my approval, permission, or knowledge!!

Needless to say I changed my LinkedIm password since, but the damage is done.

People - DO NOT LOG ON TO PLAXO with the same credentials to LinkedIn.

Johnny. 10/25/2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnnyb555 (talk • contribs) 15:12, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Plaxo creates accounts for people without their permission!
I just got an e-mail from Plaxo about a friend request from someone I don't even know, and it turns out Plaxo had created an account for me without my knowledge, using my main e-mail address. Of course I didn't know the password to my account because I didn't create it, so I sent a change password request to my e-mail, changed the password, logged in, and deleted the account. Is there some law about creating accounts for people without their knowledge or consent? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Guidepoint2 (talk • contribs) 20:35, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Plaxo Co-Founder Minh Nguyen Charged With Murder

 * TechCrunch
 * Washington Post -173.162.252.241 (talk) 22:15, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
 * He was not a co-founder. See Lies, damn lies and Wikipedia: Murder suspect NOT a Plaxo founder – ex-staffer --Racklever (talk) 16:44, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Plaxo end of service 12/31/2017
I didn't even know I had an account, but I received the following in an email:

> After 15 years of helping customers enrich their address books, we regret to > announce that we will be shutting down the Plaxo service at the end of the day on > December 31, 2017. > > We will begin purging user data on January 1, 2018. If you would like to export > your address book data, please do so before that date. Instructions for how to > export your data are available > here. > > Thank you for subscribing to Plaxo. We appreciate the support you have given us > over the years and we wish you all the best.