Interesting… the Direct Marketing Association, the lobby group aiming to turn more forests into junk mail, has taken down its My DM website. Anyone trying to visit the site is now redirected to the Direct Marketing Association website, where you'll find no information whatsoever about why the decision was taken. 'My DM' just quietly disappeared. RIP.

A loss? Hah! It was one of those websites that just crapped on about how fantastic 'direct marketing' really is. Nobody in their right mind would call a website 'My DM', right? Giving people useful tips about how to stop unwanted, unsolicited junk mail was never what the site aimed for; it was a propaganda tool. A home page with images of people smiling at the camera while holding up a piece of junk mail, that sort of thing. Somewhere amongst the links to pages with titles such as 'DM saved my life', 'DM is good for the environment' and 'Without DM nobody in Britain would have a job' there would be a link to a page with the usual misinformation the DMA spreads about junk mail. 'Signing up to the Mailing Preference Service will stop up 95% of addressed direct marketing materials', that sort of misinformation.

No doubt the DMA is working on a new propaganda tool. Maybe they'll try something a bit more subtle this time. In the meantime you'll have to make do with the independent Guide to Stamping Out Junk Mail.