Marquis Who's Who

Bin it. They just want to sell you a copy of the damn thing.

It's worth including because they found the information they needed in the records, and they don't need everyone to pony up the ludicrous cost to find enough suckers willing to make it worth their while doing the mailshot. It's an age-old scam, more often targeting parents by including their kids, but that's not important.

I got the same thing about three months ago. I still have it somewhere, thinking that I'd fill it out and send it in, but I haven't yet. I also would never buy the thing.

Weird story though: When I used to work in fundraising, we'd look up prospective donors in all the Who's Whos. One day, I was doing that and saw my uncle's name in there, with information I knew wasn't true! I called my mother and said, "Uncle so and so didn't really go to [fill in an Ivy League school], did he?" because I was pretty sure he'd skipped college altogether. Turns out I was right and it was just what he'd written in.

Now, that was 20 years ago. I don't know what kind of checking is done these days. I'm sure Joanne and I would be honest, and many other entrants are honest too. But...there's always that one uncle...

So I'm not rushing to send in my info, but I'm really glad Joanne asked about this.

Anyone else able to shed light??

jdkiggins: Makes me wonder about the entire publication now.

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Me too, Joanne. And so now, when I see it on anyone's resume or c.v., I discount it automatically because of what I learned about my uncle, even if his was an aberation. It would be interesting to know for sure, but I don't know how we find that out??

I'm sure they list you whether you reply or not. Their deal is selling overpriced books to the people who are listed -- the same scam as poetry.com.

Fill it out, or toss the pitch, doesn't make any difference. But if you write them a check I'll come to your house and mock you in person.

They obtained the information from public records and databases, and they have some kind of demographic profile of "person most likely to fall for this nonsense," which is why you got one.

I don't know Marquis specifically, but surely if they're asking you for information, it's not so much 'Who's Who' as 'Who the heck are you?'. If nothing else, those prices mean instant vanity book territory. Looking up a plumber or a physician, perhaps - who but the included people and some very rich bachelors are going to look for a random American woman in such a book?

jdkiggins: Jill, we can have a weiner roast with our letters.

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Think we might invite and serve some spam to the folks on the Who's Who masthead?

I think this used to be a legit operation, but fell right into the Poetry.com territory.

Joanne, it IS kind of creepy how they get all that info, isn't it? They sent me a form saying I'd been approved for the "Who's Who in America" last year or the year before. I figured, no harm. Sent it back and approved it. Now I get their damn junk mail EVERY MONTH telling me I've been nominated for more of their books. What a waste of trees.

So how DO they get all that profile info? Name and address, sure, but how did they know which schools I went to, books I'd written, awards I won, etc.? Do they have people actively searching the Internet for this stuff? What's weirder is that I don't write under my full legal name, but they matched it up correctly.

Richard said:

who but the included people and some very rich bachelors are going to look for a random American woman in such a book?

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Hmmm, very rich bachelors, now I'm a little disappointed I didn't get the mailing...

They use a data mining company and hire fresh college graduates to help populate their database. It's definitely a scam, but I'd avoid my data being included for various privacy concerns, including identity theft--yeah, there's no social security or license # but there's mother's maiden name and such, useful for social engineering.

Like a Do Not Call list i.e., Do Not Publish my info list? Great idea if it doesn't exist, that's for sure!

This is almost as good as those folks who are auctioning off pages of their book on Ebay.

I'm going to start a Who's Who of American Dogs. People are crazy about their pets. Anyone want in on the ground floor?

XThe NavigatorX said:

I'm going to start a Who's Who of American Dogs. People are crazy about their pets. Anyone want in on the ground floor?

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Me, me, me! And I bet Anne and Cate are right behind me...

I bet one of the first places they go looking for "Who's Who" is in credit reporting agencies, to see who's likely to have the money to buy one of the books.