[Framers] OT: (Kinda') Spam to Adobe Partners

[Stefan Gentz]

Hi Tammy, Carol et al,

I get such emails practically every day as well and other people in my team, too. The thing is, once you have published your email somewhere on the web, you will automatically end up at some point on the lists of such criminals. There is hardly anything one can do except for keeping your email address secret. 

If those guys got your contact data from your profile on the Adobe Technical Communication Partner Portal (https://partners.adobetechcomm.com/)  – might be, might be not. Or maybe from LinkedIn. Or maybe just from your own homepage: https://spectrumwritingllc.com/wordpress/partners/ where you mention your Partnership with Adobe, or https://spectrumwritingllc.com/wordpress/spectrum-writing/contact/ where you expose your email and phone number.

I do not see why or how Adobe should or could "patrol" the communication between two third parties. That would be illegal anyway.

Regarding the partner portal: We are currently revamping it (while I'm writing). As part of the revamp we thought a lot about how we can, on the one hand, protect the privacy of our partners, and on the other hand, make the communication between people who are interested in your services or products and you as our partner as easy as possible. One result of these discussions is that we introduce a contact form so that potential customers can write to you as a partner through that form. This will eliminate the need for you to expose your email address. However, a "bad guy" can of course also spam you with such a form (while we will further improve this to make it as hard as possible for them.

> 1. Adobe had to ask you to be a partner before you get added to/have access to the list.
Everyone can "apply" to become a partner. There is an open application form for this on the partner portal. If we receive an application, we do an intensive background check first to pre-validate the applicant and then go into a one-on-one conversation with the applicant. (Exception: We know the person already personally for a longer time and asked the person to apply). Only if that went through, the company or individual will be approved as a partner.

> 2. Adobe monitored the list and didn't allow anyone to sign up unless they could be verified.
That is correct. See my comment above. No one on the partner portal is "unknown" to us, and there are no "fake profiles."


Regards,
Stefan Gentz
Senior Worldwide Evangelist, Technical Communication

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