Damn Spam

Logically I can see that if Spam (unsolicited email) didn't make money, then spammers wouldn't keep sending it. I guess I just have a hard time believing people actually read, then click, then fill out, then hand over their credit-card # for all those lame offers I see filing through my inbox. "Sales-O-Matic", "Business is EXPLODING!", "Refinance Now, Rates are the lowest in 40 YEARS!", "sweet ecstasy", etc etc etc.

Well it does make money. This article in the WSJ interviews a woman who sends out about 60 million emails a month and pulls in close to $200,000 a year. And get this -- she doesn't think of what she does as spamming. What? Does she consider all 60 million of them personal friends??

Until people stop clicking through, filters become perfect, or email becomes like online messaging services (where you explicitly choose who can send you messages) the vast majority of us have to suffer through our roles as the non-respondents in the spammer's numbers game.