"Eric D. Williams" <eric(_at_)infobro(_dot_)com> wrote:
Could you all and others please forward to me a brief definition of
what criteria you would consider for spam.
Short and sour: Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE). To make a short story
long:
- If it's solicited, it's certainly not spam.
- If it's not bulk, each one may be annoying, but at least it's not
annoying as many people. B-) More to the point, if it's "lovingly
handcrafted" Just For You, there are only so many people the sender can
spare the time to bother with. Therefore they almost certainly have a
well-founded belief that you (as a specific individual, not a member of
some demographic) would welcome it. Therefore they are at least able to
explain why. They certainly should, so as to avoid being viewed (and
reported) as spammers. (Take the "same text to a bunch of different
experts to ask them something for your thesis" scenario. Send each
expert a separate email. Preface the question with how you legitimately
obtained the expert's email. Add some flattery re why his particular
work makes him well suited to answer your question. This would neither
be (IMHO) spam, nor seem spammy, even though the main content is the
same in several different messages.)
- If it's not email (such as snailmail, phone, or SMS), it may still be
annoying, but should probably be considered as a separate problem.
- Some would say it must be commercial. As someone else said, I've
gotten religious, political, "come look at my k00l web site", and other
forms of spam.
- Some would ask whether the headers (or other info, such as removal
address) are faked. Although a lot of UBE does have fakery, much of it
also does not. This sort of fraud is IMHO another separate question.
To contrast with UCE, consider this scenario. I'm in a group called the
SCA. I participate in its newsgroup, rec.org.sca. The SCA has a major
annual event called Pennsic, to which I've been many times but have had
to miss the past few. If someone sent me:
Going to Pennsic? Stop by Honest Achmed's, in the Food
Court. Mention this email for a free felafel sandwich
and cup of sekanjabin.
I'd assume he simply harvested me from r.o.s and report him as a spammer.
Note how he's treating me as part of a demographic, not an individual.
BUT, if he sent me:
I see from your web site you're in the SCA, and have gone to
Pennsic many times but had to miss the past few. I hope you
get a job soon, so you can afford to go, and one that will
let you go! When you finally make it, stop by Honest
Achmed's, in the Food Court. Mention this email for a free
felafel sandwich and cup of sekanjabin, so you can see what
you've been missing for the past two years.
I would not consider it spam, due to the references to things that are
fairly specific to me. Sure, it's possible that he's got a list of such
people (and thus might be caught by quantity detectors), but still....
--
David J. Aronson, Unemployed Software Engineer near Washington DC
See http://destined.to/program/ for online resume, and other info
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