STAN THE GOOD SHABBOS MAN
STAN ‘THE GOOD
SHABBOS MAN’
STAN SMOOKLER
These mailing companies that send bulk lists are not very
accurate and they just press send, and hope for the best.
The website has been very busy this year, with all the
sport that has taken place, and with the ‘Bokke’ getting
knocked out of the Cricket World Cup, that helped a bit
with traffic. All the Rugger has attracted huge
volumes, and after Yomtov, the ‘Rugger’ World Cup
takes place, BUT, unfortunately methinks the result will
be the same as the Cricket, and we will get dumped early
in the competition, as the shpielers are just not world
class at the moment. The only difference is that the
correspondence will carry on till the final whistle in
mid-October. ‘Rugger’ is a proper sport!!!!!
THE GOOD Shabbos Man has turned
15 this year, and from a message to my friends/family in
2000, has grown into a ‘Humungous’ ‘Koching’ letter
reaching out around the world to some strange places
also.
From being a simple hobby to learn how to use a
komputta, it’s become a ‘tummel’ of 4m ‘hits’ a month,
and the weekly news going by e-mail to 7,000 readers. I
sometimes wonder if it is still a hobby, as the amount of
work involved is tremendous …….
I think the biggest ‘tzorres’ on the letter, is the weekly
moans about not receiving the letter, and when you
TRY and explain to readers that they can access on the
website www.stantgsm.com 24/7, they cannot seem to
grasp this simple concept! I can receive 6/7 e-mails from
the same reader over the weekend to send the letter
again, and when I send with an explanation that they
are on the list, BUT sometimes it gets spammed, blocked
and many other reasons why they did not receive, they
write back and say ”enough of the ‘bobbameises’, just
send again,”
About 8 years ago, when we started the website www.
stantgsm.com, I sent out a ‘kaylikka’s’ guide to use the
website, which was not well received, sooooo I just
resend the letters on request. I reckon that 60% access
everything from the website these days; most probably
the younger readers. I think the over 50’s want it in their
inbox each week. When the mailing house has a
problem sending, I already expect abuse from readers.
58
Roots, roots, roots…People are ‘tukka’ still trying to
trace their roots, whether it was from ‘Der Heim’ in
Europe, Russia, Slaaaaapstad, etc, and the letter receives
many requests to find relatives. I must say we have been
exceptionally successful in finding people/families. The
whole trick is to have a bit of info to work on. It has got
to the stage that when I receive a request, and it is one
of those old black & white pictures, saying Goldberg,
please find family somewhere in the ‘Beloved Country’,
I write back, ask for more info and do not waste time, as
those are impossible to trace. The Litvak connection still
fascinates me, one because both parents and
grandparents were from Lithuania, and the other,
because ‘Yidden’ are seeking a link to their roots in
Lithuania.
The jokes have been VERY well accepted lately, and
I get very few complaints. The main ones from the
‘manne’ are that the jokes are ‘pup’ (lame), and not
feisty. Methinks I have found a bit of balance at last. I
have used close on 10,000 jokes in the past 15 years.
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