I don't know what to make of this. I just got two E-Mails, each a minute apart, from seemingly two different developers on two different E-Mail accounts with two different names -- for all appearances seeming to be two completely separate entities -- requesting review from a defunct review site for two different apps intended to do pretty much the same thing but aimed at two different but very specific demographics. E-Mail 1: E-Mail 2: I redacted identifying specifics just in case. I should note that in the first E-Mail, the sender and name in the sig agree, but the second the sender is simply two letters, neither of which are the initials of the person in the sig. Some items of note: - I have confirmed that the application mentioned in the first E-Mail does indeed exist, but the second one didn't even mention the name of the app. - Neither E-Mail addresses me or my former site specifically, so they're both form letters. - My review blog has been idle since last August, and the last post is a big notice of my leaving the bloggin' biz for sunnier shores. I am no longer part of any "top iPhone review blog" lists that I am aware of. - Two religious apps by apparently two different people, one aimed at those of the Jewish persuasion and one at Muslims -- which struck me as an odd pairing given how Muslim extremists are often portrayed as highly anti-semitic. (I know the Muslim app isn't aimed at extremists, nor are all or even a statistically significant portion of Muslims extremists or anti-semitic. But the anti-semitic component of Islamic extremists that's most prominent in the public consciousness thanks to the mainstream media paired with a Jewish app is just odd.) - The E-Mails were sent within one minute of each other. - They're both forwards - The E-Mail addresses of each sender were very similar; both used Gmail, and the usernames were specific to the app they were pushing, which is to say similar to "[email protected]" It's just ... weird. I almost took them both for spam but they were a little too accurately targeted, and the one app that did mention its name does exist, so... I dunno. Weird.
So whats your next move?......going for it? Or just too weird to respond.......(personally I wouldn't)
Well, I no longer run a review blog so there's really no point in responding anyway. Even if I did though, it's just too bizarre. Notwithstanding that I am not the slightest bit religious and therefore am not in any position to authoritatively review theological apps in the first place. Plus, even when I ran the site I tried to avoid anything to do with religion for the sake of neutrality, if not complete lack of interest. (Except in the very beginning, when my review columns were part of another site I co-ran, where I literally reviewed every free app.) I suspect that both E-Mails were sent by the same person or firm, but it seems very odd for a single firm to engage in such dishonest practises as spoofing E-Mail addresses and attempting to seem like two different people if they're on the level. The only thing I can think of is that maybe there's enough tension between the two faiths that having both applications come out of the same development firm, or at least be associated by way of having the same publisher, would seem improprietous. But that's total speculation; as I said, I know very little about what one religious faction means to the other. Otherwise, if they are two completely different developers, that's one hell of a coincidence.
That's definitely the same dev. I spent all of last summer in Israel and people trying to market stuff to various religions at the same time was pretty normal (for some of the non-religious people living there at least). It definitely wouldn't be a muslim and a jew working together, especially if they mentioned Israel. If you ever watch the news, you know what I mean. I don't think it ever works, but they try.
So that sort of thing isn't unusual then? Are these developed by non-religious (or at least non-Muslim and non-semitic) developers? It just strikes me as really odd to think of a pious Jew or Muslim developing a religious application for the other religion. I suppose it wouldn't be the least bit strange for a non-religious company to market stuff to theists of different stripes, which would help explain the attempts to come across as different developers when trying to publicize their wares. But I there's still a huge disconnect about using dishonest tactics to market religious material that taints the very products they're trying to sell. Not that it matters to me one way or the other, but I immediately get this impression of some sleazy gray market merchant trying to pass off dubious merchandise from his street-corner trenchcoat. "Psst. Hey. Hey you. Yeah, you." *fling* "Wanna by a Quran?"
