Wham! Bam! Thank You Spam!

By Joe Myna
7/21/03

Once upon a time, e-mail messages flowed freely through
cyberspace and the congenial smell of e-mails was everywhere.

I remember racing to my inbox each day with a wild
anticipation that I was about to be informed of new
and enlightening events, along with notes from friends.

Maybe, the collection would also include an order or two
to quell my monetary wishes, as well as, containing some
of my favorite newsletters.

Ah! Those were the salad days...when my inbox was a
welcome sight each morning.

Oh, of course there was that occasional sales pitch, but
that was just to keep me alert.

But alas, those were days of yore.

Today we are drowning in a deepening cascade of
rubbish, as a result of unsolicited e-mails irritatingly
referred to as "Spam."

"Spam" is a term contrived in a parody a few years
back by an English group of comedians (Monty Python's
Flying Circus), describing a food product (Spam)
exploited in a humorous manner.

While this form of e-mail sludge (Spam) is far from a
laughing matter, the irrational reaction to it by some
is itself fraught with calamity.

If we were simply confronted with this daily deluge
of these unwanted emails, that would be annoying
enough.

However, what is now occurring is far worse!
In fact, its really scary.

Part of this chaos springs from the fact that there in no
clear cut definition to everyone of just what comprises
this thing we term SPAM!

Further, nothing explains, nor excuses the destructively
paranoid reactions of some to this proliferation of
spam plaguing us now.

On one hand there are the saintly IP's, installing what is
loosely described as "Anti-Spam" software, which I
must admit does accomplish two things.

Those being the purging of many needed emails,
while taking no notice of, most of the porn and sludge.

Yet the real damage comes from the growing number
of self-appointed ‘crusaders’ that inhabit the Internet.

They take it upon themselves to police the net vowing
to squash any unsuspecting spammer.

These "Not in my inbox" nerds, suffering from delusions
of importance, mistakenly harass the IP's of honest
marketers and purveyors of newsletters.

In fact, many a website has been shut down as the result
of a false accusation of spamming.

Often, the accusation is all it takes today, due to the
hysteria prevalent on the Web, along with the growing
fixations of many hosting companies.

These spiteful actions have indeed caused devastating
financial harm and damage to the reputations of many
well known and blameless Internet pioneers.

A few states have enacted legislation against spam, but
they still can't define it. The U.S. congress has also
mentioned some sort of a bill, but are bogged down with,
things more important. Such as, which luxuries to pass
new taxes on – like food, cars, etc..

Once congress settles on a definition of this phenomenon
and passes a new law, you can count on the spammers
to really come out of the woodwork along with their
lawyers.

They could sue for obesity to inboxes!

As for me, I long for the days when I can once again utter,
"Don't you just love the smell of email in the air!"

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Joe Myna is webmaster at http://www.anezbizz.com
"The Virtual Warehouse Of Info Products." Also,
http://www.ahow2.com "The Virtual Bookshelf Of
How-To Courses." Mr. Myna who began marketing
on the Internet in 1996 is also the author of many
best-selling marketing and How-To eBooks.

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