Somewhere, I coughed up my email address. It could have been to access a report, or a datasheet, or something. I used to be naive and think that they wouldn’t spam the shit out of me.

But I was wrong.

I get a constant stream. People looking to sell me mailing lists for “decision makers in IT software”, “SAP users”, “Oracle Users”, etc. I get 2 to 3 a day, and I always look for the “opt out” or unsubscribe option.

About 2/3 of the time, the “opt out” or “unsubscribe” messages bounce. Those people get reported as spammers immediately. Alas, whoever harvested my email address continues to resell that.

I hope there is a special ring of hell for people who do that.

As a marketer myself, I know the temptation to use harvested emails for all sorts of usage. But I have a simple test. Would I personally like to get this message? If the answer is no, then I don’t use it. Seems simple.

Alas, the world is full of scumbags.