Good Spam or Bad Spam...

Are you Good Spam or Bad Spam?
This is the question I find echoing in my head sometimes when I am going through my email, as if it is part of some electronic Wizard of Oz. Have you ever given any thought to the fact that there really is a difference in spam? Not that I am defending anyone, but let me make my point and then you can decide for yourself.

Spam is such a hot issue and no one knows the "right" view of spam that fits everyone.
You either:
- will take all measures to prevent people from sending it to you
- don't mind it at all and happily delete, delete, delete every day
- OR hate it sometimes and ignore it other times.

I think I fall in the last category, which is what started me thinking about good and bad spam. My point of view has now developed into this:

BAD Spam-
It is bad spam when you reply to it to be removed and it is returned to you because the address is made up. It is bad spam when the removal link does not open a real url. It is bad spam when you paste the message source into Spam Cop and the info you get back before clicking the "Send spam report" shows tons of dead ends and made up domains, etc.

This means that this "Cowardly Lion" harvested your address, and went to great lengths to cover their tracks in order not to get caught sending spam.

GOOD Spam-
It is good spam when there is an actual person on the other end, apologizing for inconveniencing you. What made it good spam? Because here is spam that you most likely will not get again, because it is more legit then the bad spam. These people are not out to break any rules, upset anyone, or ruin your day. 9 times out of 10 they really don't know any better and will learn, very quickly I might add.

Also, keep in mind that the Scarecrow in us does not ALWAYS remember every email we sign up for. It is possible to have signed up for something and a week later be flipping out because you are getting email from some unknown. If we only had a brain sometimes (Speaking for myself, of course).

It is also highly possible that someone is having fun subscribing you to things. Never count that one out, it happens all of the time.

GOOD vs BAD
Personally, I would much rather get good spam. Bad spam demonstrates that the sender KNOWS what is not acceptable and went to all of this trouble and expense to hide behind this long trail of fake addresses. That they took the time to do that is malicious, in my way of thinking. Do they really think that what they are trying to sell in this manner is actually worth it? These are the people we should be upset with. These are the people that we need to be telling, "I'll get you my pretty, and your little server too!"

So, whether you agree or disagree, just try to keep in mind that
1. The whole world is not out to get you.
2. Not every piece of spam is sent with the same intent. And...
3. As the world around us continues to change, we will be seeing more and more companies resorting to sending their junk mail through email rather then the post office. (I think this is becoming a more desirable thing to us all, as it would be much safer.)

Now is the time to try to adjust our view and approach the issue with a level head. If we don't we will drive ourselves mad, and for what purpose?
The changes in our world cause the internet to change. Soon you probably will find yourself saying, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore".
Owner of MarketingTrendz, and Publisher of
The OnLine Exchange Ezine.
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http://marketingtrendz.com/subscribe.htm
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Talking About the Big S: Don't let The Young Folk Read.Cheryl A. Crossan

6/18/02
Talking about the big S. Dont let the young folk read.

Yup, Thats what Im going to talk about. SPAM. Ive seen from my inbox this is a subject that cant be covered enough. Im not going to cover the legal issues, such as getting you Internet service turned off. Im not going to discuss the moral, or ethical or any other philosophical issues. Im going to tell you exactly how its killing your chances at making money.

I run ads every week for NetSteals News in the ezines I get, just as you run ads in this. What, you didnt think I got ezines? Sure, tons of them and read em too. In order to advertise NN, I have to give my email address so people can subscribe. Every time one of my ads run, I get at least one UCE or unsolicited email from someone trying to sell me something. They see my email address and decide to send me an offer.
Stop and think about this from a business point of view. If this person was offering to give me free money, do you think Id trust them when they had just spammed me? However, if they took the time to subscribe to NN and find out what were about; and run free ads, I would of course be reading their ads as I do yours. However, that takes time. But, having a huge email list in which you sell nothing is not as effective as having a list of five people who want to read your offers. I cant stress that enough.

People who spam are merely giving themselves the illusion they are doing business. Sure, they may send a lot of emails every day but no one is going to buy things from them. Actually, people are prone to complain about them and cause them to lose their means of conducting business, i.e. Internet access. I had a bounced email from one of our members. I was chilled when I saw what it said. See below.

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at hookworm.frognet.net.

I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.

This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

:

64.157.4.82 does not like recipient.

Remote host said: 553 VS10-RT Possible forgery or deactivated due to abuse - see http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/spam/spam-18.html (#5.1.1)

Giving up on 64.157.4.82.

This is when I decided to write this article. I dont want to lose another member like this. I dont want any other members on my list like this. Im worried and discouraged that this person may have been contacting you with scams.

I am going to say it again. Dont spam people. Taking a short-cut will only lose you business. You have absolutely nothing to gain by this. There are no short cuts to good business practices. What we do today will follow us, good or bad, tomorrow. Sincerely, Cheryl.

Cheryl A. Crossan is the Publisher of NetSteals News which focuses on helping people design, host, find marketing partners and advertising for little or no cost. mailto: pooka@frognet.net

Cheryl A Crossan is a fiction writer, network marketer and publisher of NetSteals News focusing on helping people design, host, find marketing partners and advertising for little or no cost.