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
(AKA 'e-mail Nazi') 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!"
______________________________________
Joe Myna
is webmaster at http://www.anezbiz.com "The Virtual Warehouse Of
Info Products." Also, http://www.ahowto.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.