Unsolicited commercial email (was [ILUG] Europe chickens out of

[Breathnach, Proinnsias (Dublin)]

Conor,
	The problem with spam is a simple one ... it costs the receiver
money, not the sender ...
Scenario 1:
	Junkmail in the mailbox at home ... no problem, toss it out, it cost
the sender a small fortune to get their 10,000 flyers done up and sent out
to your door, by real people, earning real money  ... Company sending pays
those costs not the householder

Scenario 2:
	I log on from home, dial up to my ISP (paying both the ISP and
Eircom money for each second I spend online ... ISP is a fixed cost, but the
phone bill isn't). I have a number of new emails, which I download ... of
the seven emails, taking half an hour to download, one is useful (and only a
short message), the other six are SPAM, with html embedded, linking back to
sites, downloading graphics and loads of other junk to my mailbox.
	Because I use a POP account I can't delete it before I download it
(not strictly true, but in most cases), so I have to wait and pay for this
form of Junkmail ...
It costs the sender nothing more to send it than it costs me to get it, but
he's after sending it to 20,000 others as well ... so 20,000 times 10p is
about £2,000 ... which is easily what spam is costing Joe Public on an
hourly basis ... probably more ..

P

> -----Original Message-----
> Before I start, I know this is going to be un-popular, but...
> 
> why does this (SPAM) get you all rilled up? Do you get that annoyed when
> it
> comes through the post box at home? No, me neither - actually I like
> reading
> junk in the jacks - And a godsend if you run out of bogroll :( - but email
> spam?? Use the delete button!