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The Economics of Spam
higgins writes "The Wall Street Journal has the best story I've ever seen on the economics of spam. A self-described "spam queen" (Clean link; should work for non-subscribers) talks about not just the millions of emails she spews, but what it costs per mailing ($250 for 500k emails), what the response rates are (1-2 one-thousandths percent) and what she actually makes. (40% of each sale of one product: anti-spam software)."
The statement contains no non-subjective, non-conditional objective statements, and therefore can't be "proven" wrong.
I don't like spam, but neither do I hate it. It is no more "evil" or indicative of lack of values than commercials. If you're a mother and have found a way to make a living that let's you stay at home and provide a quality, loving and supportive atmosphere for your kids, that's great. You might not have the most noble job in the world, but then, neither do I right now.
This lady's made a trade off, which is a necessary consequence of living in the real world, and it looks like a pretty good one to me. If spam is terrible, then get a spam filter. or lobby your representatives to outlaw it.
She looks like she has a fairly mature, well thought out, and open understanding of what it is she does.
Your post was bad form... BAD FORM!
"Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
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Uh, no, sorry, doesn't work that way.
Spammers don't use their own ISP's e-mail servers. They connect directly to "relays" (mis-configured e-mail systems, often in asian countries), and relay the spam through them.
So as far as your local Cable or DSL provider can tell, they aren't doing anything different than anyone else using up a bit of bandwidth.
Sorry. There are tons of people who have been working at killing spam from all available angles for over 10 years (I was one of them). But there's just too many stupid people in the world to close it all up. Too many SOBs in far off lands running open relays, too many courts ruling against blacklists, too many people running blacklists poorly, too many stupid ISPs who don't have the time, money, or willingness/resolve/guts to do something productive.
So, due to the overwhelming stupiditiy of humanity, you're screwed.
I'm not. I have the good sense to stay away from companies, friends, and systems who would use my e-mail address inappropritaely and result in me getting spam. As such, I've never gotten A SINGLE SPAM in the e-mail address that I've had for 5 years now.
Having this type of judgement skills is rare. I work in a company full of smart people, and few of them are capable of this. All it takes is one mistake, and plonk, you're screwed.
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It's the movement and consumption of money that creates wealth.
The $100 isn't destroyed it's displaced.
Spam creates jobs and your time contributes. You should be pleased that you are helping out just by pressing delete occasionally.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Godwin's Law, you lose. Thanks a lot.
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