I got a letter...

[cos]

I got a letter, from the Netherlands.

It is addressed to "POLYMORY c/o Sir Ofen Inber" and then my street address.

A handwritten letter from a guy who says he lives in the Netherlands, heard something about polymory (it's consistently spelled that way), wants to know more, will I please tell him about it? And do I know of any poly groups ("like-minded organisation of polymory") in the Netherlands, and what their postal address is.

I'm almost sure he got my name and address from the domain registration of polyamory.org (although I did spell my name correctly in the domain registration), but he sent a postal letter and says he doesn't have email, and the only contact information is his postal address. Knowing myself and my weird mental block about sending postal letters, I wouldn't be surprised if I never reply, or take a year or more to do so, but ... it's strange and out of the blue enough that I might get through that and send something soonish. If I knew what to say.

Ummm, what do you think I should reply with?

Comments

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

Wow. When were you knighted? And when did you start spelling your name that way?

I suggest:

1) Send him a basic definition of polyamory, with polyamory spelled correctly. You can make this easier by just pulling appropriate sections from the alt.polyamory FAQ.
2) Provide him with http://polyamory.2y.net as a potential resource in the Netherlands.
3) Ask where he got your info. He may not respond, but it might be worth knowing.

Also, as far as responding goes... just pretend you're writing an email. Then, instead of hitting SEND, hit PRINT. Then ask Molly for help mailing it, because I know she can do postal mail, even if you can't. ;)

[catamethyst.livejournal.com]

Agreed with (2) -- the internet says that that site has a Dutch translation of the alt.polyamory FAQ.

[sariel-t.livejournal.com]

What she said.

[cos]

> just pretend you're writing an email. Then, instead of hitting SEND, hit PRINT.

Heh. A printer. I should get one of those, one of these days. My last printer was a dot matrix :)

I can't even pretend I'm writing an email, because I expect that when I'm replying to something, the text of the message I'm replying to is right there in the text editor, for me to cut up and quote pieces of as I write my response.

[shaggy-man.livejournal.com]

Well, if you transcribed his letter into a text editor, then the text of the message you're replying to *would* be right there for you to cut up and quote.

[missionista.livejournal.com]

Can you look up his name and postal address? I'm wondering if maybe he is in a hospital/institution/jail sort of situation, and that might be why he has limited or no access to the internet. I'd try to get a bit more info about him before replying.

[cos]

Google turned up a similar letter someone else received from the same person, and posted on their blog.

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Did you let the other recipient know? It seems to me the sender is likely mentally ill and/or a scammer.

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

Note (in case you missed it) that one of the comments on the post you linked to is yet a third person having gotten such a letter.

[(Anonymous)]

パリやNYのフランス人のヘアスタイリストいわく、私はtoo classicよりもclassic/modernが良く似合うのだって。

[kirin]

Spam in Japanese about French hair styles. That's a new one...

[cos]

Usually I delete the spam, but I'll leave this one up because of your reply :)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

"Bork bork bork!"

I know, that's mock-Swedish, not Dutch. :)

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

Print out and mail this image.

[besina-sartor.livejournal.com]

That's pretty odd, and he may be trying to covertly have you send information to someone who didn't actually request it.

I'd include his original letter back with any reply, just in case this is what he's trying, but I'd also tell him to check a local library for web access then how to google for "polyamory netherlands", wish him well and be done with it.