I just saw now this thread, I may be a bit late but here it goes anyway.
I have to agree with most I am also divided on this issue. I hate spam and have many websites with people subscribed to them, just like Debbie.
But here are examples which I have a problem with in this context:
1. I get emails from people to remove them from the list, saying the can't remove themselves for whatever reason. When I check.... THEY ARE NOT ON THE LIST(or any of them).
They didn't even bother to look that the email arrived in their inbox sent by someone who IS subscribed.
Because we send a lot of educations materials... and people forward the content, this happens more often than you think. As a site owner I am sick of people asking to UNSUBSCRIBE when they are NOT on any list. But that is the way stuff works and I understand that this is part of being in the internet business. Now I have to worry about someone listing me, when they were not on any list in the first place.
I can't possibly now open a site that lists people with short subscription memory or one that educates people how to check where they go emails from before they list a site as spammers... can I now?
2. I had a physical call from someone saying they got spam, I checked if they are subscribed. They said that they bought a product a long time ago and MAYBE subscribed but they can't remember... NOW WHAT?
Yes, there are spammers. My partner at one point got 20 emails a DAY from Certech and the unsubscribe did not work. He had to physically call them.
This doesn't make anyone happy. But I have two more issues with site functions:
3. We have Recommend Articles function - this means people can recommend content to others and send that link..... what if the other person thinks this is not a good article... or whatever..... NOW WHAT?
4. We do have Recommend a Friend and Invite a Friend functions (and ppl have to be members to even have access to this function.... NOW WHAT?
I do hate garbage in my inbox but spam is not that straight forward when you take it out of viagra context and pills and stuff like that.
That of course does not mean that I like spam. As far as the exmaple with the job company. I have also received their email. But only ones. And it didn't bother me. Certech on the other hand does bother me as their unsubscribe function did not work and I got email more than one. They seem to have stopped (with my email address anyway) in the last 2 months or so.
Anyway, that is my two cents.
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