What is the Fuss?

By Peter M.K. Chan
Posted Tuesday, December 7, 2004

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I am a young surfer, barely six-months old. But I already know that spamming is a sin, soon to be made a crime. However, as an adult who has been around for quite sometime, I really do not understand the logic of it all.

What is wrong with sending decent emails to strangers? It’s because they have not asked for it. But are banners, pop-ups and pop-unders solicited? Yeah! How about TV advertising? You didn’t ask for them either, did you? These, mind you, are PAID for. Are you saying that paying someone to deliver the emails will be acceptable? If not, what really is the fuss?

Like everything else, the fuss is about money. If it is OK for Tom, Dick, and Harry to advertise for himself, Where is advertising revenue going to come from? Well, as someone who has to put roof over head and food on table, I am beginning to see the truth.

This thing has got to be stopped. How? Why not nail it with a bad sounding label. What do you have in mind? How about SPAM for “Self Publicity-Advertising Mess”? Not bad for a bad name. That would also give the public something to spit from its lips. Like SPAMMING is bad for health, or whatever.

Of course, that is not supposed to be heard. But, according to great grandma, That’s how SPAMMING has come to be frown upon. It’s not about table manners, mind you. It’s about whether any lunch should be free. It is a conflict between cooks and those who prefer to cook for themselves.

Can SPAMMING really be stopped? Yes, in name but not in kind. As always, devils are steps ahead of the gods. Email address collecting has already become a kind of business. And people are having themselves opted in everyday. What this creates is a kind of new syndication. In this way, almost everyone will be happy. Cook will keep their jobs and no lunch will be free. There will be no more unsolicited emails. Some though would still complain about unwanted publicity and advertising. But then, as great grandma used to say, Who is to know that one’s words are not welcomed unless one speaks?.

About the Author
Author: Peter M.K. Chan
(http://www.geocities.com/themysteryofmind)
(http://www.geocities.com/themysteryofmind)