I just don’t understand Spam…
When the mailman delivers it, we call it ‘junk mail’ but when it shows up in our email we call it ‘spam’. Whether it comes with a stamp or a ding, I just don’t understand the use of it. It seems that once a week I get a postcard from both Sam Ash and Guitar Center… I bought a base guitar from both of them… okay two from Guitar Center and one from Sam Ash… but the point is I own three basses, an amp and plenty of music books. The odds that I’m going to see something in one of their mailers or get excited by one of their postcards is slim… but the odds exist because I have shopped there before.
That doesn’t explain the loads of credit card, home mortgage and AOL ads I get on a daily basis. I have never been with AOL nor do I have any plan to. I have all the credit cards I need and I don’t own a house, yet I get offers to get a second mortgage on the place I’m living in. Do these companies get enough of a return off of these mailings to make them worthwhile? They have to know that the majority of mailings go straight into the trash… even the ones marked “Please do not discard”.
But lets talk about the real head scratcher… spam. On-line pharmacies? Stock tips? Mortgages? Penis enlargements? Dating sites? I can’t open my email without getting at least two of these every day. They are annoying and get deleted if my spam filter does not catch them… but what I really want to know is; are they effective? Does anyone click on the links? I know it doesn’t cost anything to send out mass emails, but are they helping these companies at all? I would love to see the statistical numbers of actual hits to emails sent. I’m betting that the annoyance factor is much higher than the success rate.
Actually it amazes me how you can find a correlation between the level of internet access around the world to the level of annoyance. Between programmers who create viruses, companies that spam and trolls on message boards, the side effect of the internet’s growth appears to be allowing people to be jerks. From the comfort of my own home, in my underwear even, I could cause fights on message boards, send out annoying emails selling products no one would want, launch viruses to destroy other people’s computers and even rant on a blog making wild accusations with absolutely not proof to back it up. Ain’t technology grand?
When the mailman delivers it, we call it ‘junk mail’ but when it shows up in our email we call it ‘spam’. Whether it comes with a stamp or a ding, I just don’t understand the use of it. It seems that once a week I get a postcard from both Sam Ash and Guitar Center… I bought a base guitar from both of them… okay two from Guitar Center and one from Sam Ash… but the point is I own three basses, an amp and plenty of music books. The odds that I’m going to see something in one of their mailers or get excited by one of their postcards is slim… but the odds exist because I have shopped there before.
That doesn’t explain the loads of credit card, home mortgage and AOL ads I get on a daily basis. I have never been with AOL nor do I have any plan to. I have all the credit cards I need and I don’t own a house, yet I get offers to get a second mortgage on the place I’m living in. Do these companies get enough of a return off of these mailings to make them worthwhile? They have to know that the majority of mailings go straight into the trash… even the ones marked “Please do not discard”.
But lets talk about the real head scratcher… spam. On-line pharmacies? Stock tips? Mortgages? Penis enlargements? Dating sites? I can’t open my email without getting at least two of these every day. They are annoying and get deleted if my spam filter does not catch them… but what I really want to know is; are they effective? Does anyone click on the links? I know it doesn’t cost anything to send out mass emails, but are they helping these companies at all? I would love to see the statistical numbers of actual hits to emails sent. I’m betting that the annoyance factor is much higher than the success rate.
Actually it amazes me how you can find a correlation between the level of internet access around the world to the level of annoyance. Between programmers who create viruses, companies that spam and trolls on message boards, the side effect of the internet’s growth appears to be allowing people to be jerks. From the comfort of my own home, in my underwear even, I could cause fights on message boards, send out annoying emails selling products no one would want, launch viruses to destroy other people’s computers and even rant on a blog making wild accusations with absolutely not proof to back it up. Ain’t technology grand?
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