Today I got a long and carefully worded promotion from a company.  It looked interesting so I clicked on the relevant link.

And I got this

Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL

There were several links all leading to the same problem.  Maybe the problem only lasted a minute, but for me it was a blockage, and the end.

But I was interested, so I emailed back – only to see that the reply address on the email was fixed as “noreply”.

I think no reply emails are utterly daft.  I know people use them to stop junk arriving, but still, this firm (and many others that I see) have stopped me communicating with them when actually I was interested.

The fact is, web sites go down – which is why an email back up is helpful.  Take out that email backup by sending from a “no reply” address, and you have lost your communication.

My email address Tony@hamilton-house.com is all over the internet and yes I get a load of junk each day.  But I would sooner deal with that, (and it takes about 30 seconds to set up the program to get rid of emails with specific words in them, or on specific topics), than risk losing a communication from a single potential client.

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Tony

Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB.  Phone 01536 399 000.