Request for research from Technische Universität München?

[aqn]

Just got this PM:

Dear aqn,

MyNissanLeaf Forum is a unique community of users contributing their insights and problems to an innovative sustainable product. As an active member in this community, we would like to ask for your permission to study your posts in the My NissanLeaf Forum. We represent a group of students studying the international Master of Consumer Affairs at the Technische Universität München. As part of a research project led by Prof. Dr. Frank-Martin Belz, we analyze why users innovate, especially in the area of electric cars.

To complement the analysis of the online contributions, we would also like to conduct an online interview with you of about 20 to 30 min. (e.g. via skype) in November or December 2012, at a date of your convenience. All information will be treated anonymously. We are neither funded by the car industry nor do we have any other commercial interests linked to our research.

We are looking forward to your reply and hope for your agreement to an online interview about your interest in the Nissan Leaf!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your time and support!

Kind regards,
Paulina Lewandowski
Desmond Markin
Technische Universitat Munchen (TUM)
+49-151-5187-9975

Before I respond, anybody else got the same thing? A quick Google shows there is a "Technische Universität München" that offers a "Masterstudiengang Consumer Affairs", though I don't suppose that's saying much...

 

[adric22]

I got the same message weeks ago. I ignored it.

 

[Stoaty]

Got the message, ignored it. If someone wants help, they should at least be willing to post in a public forum.

 

[garygid]

I responded and am interacting with whoever is on the
other end of the emails. They asked for permission
to use some of my posts as examples in their lectures.

Of course, my junk email has grown by a factor of ten...
No, just kidding about the junk mail!

 

[thankyouOB]

I responded and am interacting with whoever is on the
other end of the emails. They asked for permission
to use some of my posts as examples in their lectures.

Of course, my junk email has grown by a factor of ten...
No, just kidding about the junk mail!

same as gary.
i asked a few questions. we went back and forth. I said yes.
they were very straightforward about it.

 

[lukati]

TUM is a top tier german university. Here is the "research" page of the group: http://www.food.wi.tum.de/index.php?id=7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks totally legitimate.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

my gmail would have spammed that. probably received it and it was deleted without me really looking at it. sometimes i wonder if spam filters are worth it

 

[thankyouOB]

my gmail would have spammed that. probably received it and it was deleted without me really looking at it. sometimes i wonder if spam filters are worth it

no. they came in and read MNL and then PM'd people that interested them.
I am not sure what the full criteria was, but you had to have lotta posts and be forthcoming, and provocative.

after some back and forth, i got this:

thank you for your positive reponse. Your were selected because we think you are a highly active member of this forum. You seem to be an active knowledge sharer or innovator. We would like to interview you personally to react to your responses and and build on new research topics.

In total we hope to interview exactly 14 members of this forum....

 

[ebill3]

Ignored it. I consider it SPAM.

 

[surfingslovak]

Based on my experience with this group, and the traffic that I see from the university, this appears to be a real and genuine effort. My understanding is that they are writing a thesis about online communications. Perhaps one of the MBA students will chime in on this thread.

 

[TomT]

I also received an invitation and accepted.

 

[mwalsh]

Also accepted. Will be doing a Skype interview on December 5th.

 

[aqn]

Thanks for all the feedback. I told them I'd help.

 

[TUCar]

Dear users,

my name is Paulina and I am also one of the students who asked you for a permission to analyze your posts. Andy, you got the mail from Desmond and me. I am looking forward to the interview! We will contact you soon.

In total, we are about 43 students doing this kind of research in one of our courses at the Technische University München in Germany. We really hope you did not feel overwhelmed or disturbed by our messages and we are sorry for any inconvenience.

Please note that our mails are no SPAM-mails. We are interested in how innovation and knowledge sharing within online communities work. If you need further information, please just ask one of the students who wrote you.

Thanks to everybody who agreed to participate. We really appreciate that!

Regards,

Paulina

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

a better way to contact people here if you are registered is by PM. my spam filter works automatically (and poorly) so browsing the folder is something i must do constantly. i delete its contents several times a day to prevent buildup. i have frequently seen things that were labeled spam simply because they were not regular correspondence

 

[Boomer23]

The contact was via PM, Dave. I also accepted and have an interview date.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

The contact was via PM, Dave. I also accepted and have an interview date.

oh had impression it was email.

 

[Nubo]

I had also disregarded the messages. Partly because they were signed, iirc, something like "Electric Girls". Combined with the unsolicited contact, this made me believe that there was a chance it could be SPAM or a "phishing" attempt. "Electric Girls" just seemed a bit incongruous with serious academic research at a University level. Personal bias on my part, but in this day and age there is so much SPAM and fraud that we become sensitized to even the slightest hint of impropriety.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I had also disregarded the messages. Partly because they were signed, iirc, something like "Electric Girls". Combined with the unsolicited contact, this made me believe that there was a chance it could be SPAM or a "phishing" attempt. "Electric Girls" just seemed a bit incongruous with serious academic research at a University level. Personal bias on my part, but in this day and age there is so much SPAM and fraud that we become sensitized to even the slightest hint of impropriety.

never hurts to be cautious. Spammers and such have gotten smarter. they definitely outpace the software used to control it to the point that SW is designed to be overkill.

 

[Nubo]

**duplicate***