Quick, what is the most hated form of spam?
“Oh, that’s easy,” you say, “that has to be malicious, infectious spam. Or maybe that annoying Rolex spam we’ve seen so much of lately.”
Bzzt!
Wrong!
According to an informal but interesting poll on the wildly popular Slashdot site, none of the above forms of spam are the most reviled (although malicious and infectious spam come in a close second).
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No, according to the more than 24,000 people responding to the poll, the worst form of spam is that which you get when you email a company and they add you to their mailing list. This heinous practice is part of what is known as “business relationship” spam. For some value of “business relationship”, of course.
On the bright side, however, this is also the sort of spam which is most likely to have an opt-out link which actually works.
Of course, it’s also true that you shouldn’t have to opt out of the mailing list in the first place. Because you should never have been placed on it.
Still, that it has made it to the status of “worst kind of spam”, with 25% of the votes (malicious and infectious spam getting 24%, and Rolex spam a paltry 9%) should be a wake up call for businesses who partake of this unsavoury practice.
Stop it.
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The Internet Patrol is and always has been free. We don't hide our articles behind a paywall, or restrict the number of articles you can read in a month if you don't give us money. That said, it does cost us money to run the site, so if something you read here was helpful or useful, won't you consider donating something to help keep the Internet Patrol free? |
