I Hate Spam!

I could easily rant for a few pages, but I’d rather offer a few suggestions. First, if you need help hiding email addresses from spammers, there’s another page on that.

Second, if you’re in the United States, write your Congressional delegation. Don’t just complain about spam: instead, suggest they listen to lobbyists from CAUCE (the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email and get their opinions on relevant bills. Congress has led the world in overhyped, empty gestures because they have no idea what their anti-spam measures really do, and they won’t listen to experts unless they realize their constituents do so.

Third, I offer my personal anti-spam statement for your consideration.

Spammers, please note:

1. I do not spam.
2. I will not do business with any organization or individual that advertises by spam, even if they promise to make me rich.
3. I am prepared to abandon, quickly and fairly easily, any email address I publish online.
4. I habitually report spam to various organizations, including the owners of the source domain. If I think they might act against you, I may complain to legal authorities or to the domain hosting your website.
5. I do not propagate chain letters, and I suspiciously check out claims that they involve primary-school class projects, missing or sick children, government plots or programs, etc.
6. I am fully aware of the fraudulent nature of Nigeria letters, phishing scams, lotteries I win without entering, etc.

I freely admit I may not be able to retaliate, depending on how clever you are. However, unless you place a high personal value on annoying me for its own sake, I can promise you have nothing to gain by spamming me.

Please note point #2. Ultimately, the only way to stop spam is to make it uneconomical.

Besides, when the sellers are afraid of the light in the first place, the odds are high that the products are of questionable value, or even unsafe. Don’t deal with spammers!