Monday June 14, 2004

Because I am writing this Open Letter, the contents of this open letter also apply to me.

So what is the "Open Letter" business all about? I am trying to grok why Open Letters are written. I mean, the trade rags always pick it up. Will they pick this up just because I label it "Open Letter"? I doubt it. Is it because I am not controversial enough? Or is it because no one knows who the heck I am? Both, I think. So why Open Letters?

Thought #1) Couldn't find an envelope.

Thought #2) Closed Letters didn't do the trick. Whatever argument was made in a Closed Letter was not compelling enough. For example, the writer couldn't make a good business case to the recipient. Perhaps the writer was not an influental person. What if I sent an Open Letter to Linus Torvalds to give up the Linux trademark to the OSDL? Even though I look very much like Linus (I have been told our similarity is "uncanny"), the response would be "John Who?" Or perhaps the idea covered in Closed Letter was just plain bad. In my case, I never sent a Closed Letter to the writers of Open Letters. See thought #1.

Thought #3) Exposure. I covered this a bit earlier, Open Letters tend to get picked up by the press. A person can get their two minutes of fame by writing an open letter. Hey, that's my reason. I admit it. Any of you trade rags listening?? Hello?

Thought #4) Pure Marketing. I send an Open Letter that I know the recepient will never comply with. The point there is that the sender looks like the hero while the recipient looks like the villan. For the individual, its one lone man (typically a man) going up against an entire company. Wow, that's the stuff Hollywood is made of. Then there is one company sending another company an open letter. The assumed righteous sender against the evil recipient. Hmmm. Still Hollywood. Are Thought #3 and Though#4 one in the same, perhaps.

Thought #5) To build a groundswell of support and get people talking. This is the most genuine reason I can think of. But I fear it is rarely the reason Open Letters are actually written. Am I looking for a groundswell of support? Nope. Purely #3 (two minutes of fame).

So nothing up to this point has really been to the writers of Open Letters. Here goes, my controversial, authority-driven, compelling advice for writers of Open Letters: Next time, use a stamp. For god sakes its only 37 cents.