Grammarly

I just got my Grammarly invite today, also for $15. Some authors have gotten them for up to $100. And, of course, that offer for a cup of coffee, if ever in San Fransisco.

Domain registration contains little info. The agent on their business license is a Yuriy Timen whose LinkedIn page lists him as GdotCom's Director of Online Marketing.

The LinkedIn page also states, "Grammarly is a growing consumer Internet SaaS company, creating software and services that perfect written English." An "SaaS" is a "software as a service" company; in other words, they rent access to a particular piece of software on a subscription basis. It sounds like expensive subscription access to a (possibly) glorified grammar-checker.

His profile also claims that Grammarly is "trusted by 3,000,000+ including...Fortune 100 companies." Fortune 100 companies loooooove spamvertised services. Love 'em.

ETA: I notice their website makes no mention of Fortune 100 companies and restrain themselves to, "...which are also licensed by more than 100 leading universities and corporations."

ETA #2: An interesting article in The Economist here - http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2012/08/grammar-software I especially liked:

So what happened with Ben Yagoda's text, which Grammarly had flagged for 10 nonexistent errors? Mr Hoover says that Grammarly "isn't intended for professional writers to achieve the next level of language mastery, or to judge artistic prose." Grammarly is "meant to proofread mainstream text like student papers, cover letters and proposals."

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(bolding added)

I've had two from them. $25 alleging I was nominated as a favourite blogging author. And a second one of $15 on the basis that I'm self-published. I assume they're sending them to everyone they can, as they're worded in that generic spam way.

I got one today too! Didn't like the concept for the site so deleted the email. Kind of fun to see my instinct was right .

For God's sake, people, there's a lot of free and very good grammar info out there, notably my favorite, the Purdue OWL:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

caw

I'd like to ask Mr. Temen, their Director of Online Marketing, why the company is spamming authors, a group their service "isn't intended for" per the company CEO.

Gillhoughly said:

A friend of mine (pro writer and editor) got a semi-spam email from grammarly.com.
...
She's not at all tempted to try them out. The google search fact that they send spam indicated it would be a bad idea.

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Yes, I agree...

FluffBunny said:

I'd like to ask Mr. Temen, their Director of Online Marketing, why the company is spamming.

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Yeah, that.

Now I haz a sad. I didn't get one of these spams.

James D. Macdonald said:

Now I haz a sad. I didn't get one of these spams.

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They were afraid of a line-by-line take-down.

The coffee line at the end was funny. Trying to give the impression that this was a personalized email sent just to me. Points for effort.

10. Print "Computer programs can't parse natural language well enough to proof or copyedit! ",
20. Goto 10

James D. Macdonald said:

Now I haz a sad. I didn't get one of these spams.

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That's because none dares trifle with the Great and Powerful YOG!!!!!

A few of my writer-friends have reported on Facebook that they've received spammy messages from Grammarly too. I didn't get one, though. I am far too SCARY for them to approach me. ROAR!

Alas! I am small and meek and therefore escaped the spammers' notice. Since James and Old Hack both missed out and are both well-known, I can only assume that the Modly Powers invested by AW protect them, as is meet and just.

FluffBunny said:

Alas! I am small and meek and therefore escaped the spammers' notice.

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I think it's the whiskers and twitchy nose that puts them off.

I got the $50 offer a few days ago. Saw there was a teeny, tiny unsubscribe button on the bottom, and that they use MailChimp, so I reported them for unsolicited spam and unsubbed.

Then I got another one yesterday offering $15 using a different mail service. Also reported them for spam.

And sent a reply that I would be blogging about their spam and attempts at bribery if they didn't take me off their mailing list.

Grumpy? Me? Perish the thought.

Jess Haines said:

I got the $50 offer a few days ago. Saw there was a teeny, tiny unsubscribe button on the bottom, and that they use MailChimp, so I reported them for unsolicited spam and unsubbed.

Then I got another one yesterday offering $15 using a different mail service. Also reported them for spam.

And sent a reply that I would be blogging about their spam and attempts at bribery if they didn't take me off their mailing list.

Grumpy? Me? Perish the thought.

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Wow! $50 a few days ago, now down to $15 yesterday? Wait another day or so and it'll be free! Or maybe they'll throw in some Ginzu knives or something. *waits to see Grammarly being hawked by some fast-talking guy wearing a headset mic at 2am on public access cable next*

FluffBunny said:

Wow! $50 a few days ago, now down to $15 yesterday? Wait another day or so and it'll be free! Or maybe they'll throw in some Ginzu knives or something. *waits to see Grammarly being hawked by some fast-talking guy wearing a headset mic at 2am on public access cable next*

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And with either an Aussie or British accent as well....

Torgo said:

10. Print "Computer programs can't yet parse natural language well enough to proof or copyedit! ",
20. Goto 10

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And when they do, it's a sure thing that good ones will NOT be promoted by spam.

When I was actively fighting email spam (back in the olden.dayz), it was becoming effective to report the the spamvertized website to its host, and even to its domain registrar. It's more of a bother to get a new hosting account than to get a new email blasting service.

The Grammarly.com domain is registered at Godaddy, and the site appears to be hosted by Amazon.

I'm just sayin'...

I just got my Grammarly email today. Apparently they got my name through one of my friends on FB who has liked their page.

No money for me. Just an offer for a free premium account.

I feel gypped.

Weeelll. I just got their spam.

They offered me a "free premium review account," which I take to mean a trail of their premium service.

I'll pass, thanks.

FluffBunny said:

Wow! $50 a few days ago, now down to $15 yesterday? Wait another day or so and it'll be free! Or maybe they'll throw in some Ginzu knives or something. *waits to see Grammarly being hawked by some fast-talking guy wearing a headset mic at 2am on public access cable next*

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I know, right? I'm so insulted. They can't even bother to keep track of how much they bribed people for before so they can keep their repeat attempts consistent.

In other news, I now have this mental image of some skeezy guy with super slicked back hair, a threadbare suit and a shark's grin going, "Blog about our crap and we'll throw in scamming your writer friends for 200 easy payments of $39.95!" or something.

Unless they offer me a night of hot monkey love with Kiera Knightly I'm going to take a pass ...