Personally, I think Denny has been incredibly generous with his user community, and it's a sad fact of life that people would get upset about not getting something they wouldn't have gotten anyway if he weren't so generous.

Then again, that kind of reaction is human nature. Heck, my partner occasionally gets depressed because we moved to a place where there's so much cool stuff going on that she can't go to all of it! Go figure...

That being said, I think it would still be "better for business" to have a few comp copies disappear into junk email accounts than to tweak that particular nerve each time. If need be, assign one of your underlings to track down users for whom you don't have a verified email account on file yet...

*Blink, blink*

Ummm, if people are going to complain about it then don't give away free product.

Don't get me wrong, I love getting free stuff. But I don't think that I have ever complained when I was not one of the folks getting it. I can fully understand your problem with that. Feel envious, yes. Complain about it, no. Think, 'shoot, now there's a lucky dog', frequently.

For the free stuff I have gotten I thank you very much. It has come as a very pleasant surprise, and frankly the surprise is at least half the fun. Birthdays and Christmas are special because they aren't every day.

The Auld Grump

But at the end...and just call me curious...what the hell was the free gift ??

One more idea:

Would it be possible to add to the signup form for the boards something along the lines of "Please don't register with a junk email account. WWG occasionally sends free sets to posters who contribute to the community - wouldn't want you to miss out!"