RE: Spammers and web hosting

At 09:58 AM 1/6/00 -0500, jacquelin.hooker(at)ss.ps.ge.com wrote:
>Who do think sorts the regular paper mail - robots??  OUR tax dollars (yes,
>both YOURS and MINE) pay thousands of US Postal employees to sort mail and
>deliver it daily.

Actually, I seem to recall hearing that the U.S. Postal service doesn't get 
any tax monies for its budget.  It has to earn its keep with the postage it 
charges, the stamps they sell, plus the P.O. box fees, plus all the other 
charges they apply to special services.  And some of the mail *is* sorted 
by machines--that's what those bar codes are for.  Humans are used to sort 
mail that is addressed by hand, or is illegible.

Sounds like the mail is being supported by the people who use it, and not 
every single taxpayer.  Again, not a good analogy for unsolicited 
commercial e-mail.

Perhaps we need to work on the definitions for spam.  I personally consider 
spam to mean "commercial e-mail I did not ask for."  If I've signed up with 
Macromedia or another vendor to be notified of new products/services or 
tips, then I'm asking for the commercial e-mail, an "opt-in" list.  I'm 
part of a targeted audience for them--I have purchased a product/service, 
and I have expressed an interest in learning more.  IMO, this is an example 
of e-mail being responsibly used as a marketing (and in some cases 
continuing education) tool, and it is a very powerful tool indeed.

I subscribe to several mailing lists.  Sometimes I get mail through the 
list that has no immediate interest for me, but I read it because it 
*might* come in handy in the future, or it might be of interest to a 
non-subscriber I know.  Again, an "opt-in" list.  I've recommended joining 
lists to some of my clients who are interested in networking with others in 
their industry via the net, and it has worked very well for some of them.

My company's e-mail address is on our web site so that potential and 
current clients can contact us.  Is that kind of e-mail spam?  No, because 
it's part of recruiting business.  But I *do* consider it spam if someone 
who is not interested in my company uses that e-mail address to send me 
advertisements, especially because the vast, overwhelming majority of it 
either concerns services we already offer for others or do for ourselves, 
or it's for the typical MMF/porn/free cable/etc. kind of spam we all love 
to delete.  The only non-client e-mail I like to look over comes from 
people wanting to work for me.

I've heard some people say, "Well, only geeks care about spam--regular 
people don't."  Wanna bet?  My dad is a minister and pretty non-geeky, and 
he doesn't like getting e-mail from strangers.  Trying to make spam look 
good by demonizing its opponents is a rather weak argument.

OTOH, the responsible use of e-mail--sending useful information to people 
who have expressed an interest in same--is something we should all 
consider, both for ourselves and when recommending it to our clients.

Rachel Hartman
--------------------------------------------
Rachel R. Hartman, Co-Owner
Hartman WebWrights - http://www.hww.com (512) 989-7844
Affordable, hand-crafted web pages for your company's needs

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