I believe there is great fault in your line of reasoning. I have
several moderated 'bulletin boards' on my web site. I have perhaps
10 different email addresses to help me better sort out the messages
to be placed on these boards. The intent of placing the email
address on the page was to help users to submit information relevant
to the discussions on the board. Not so that I can receive email
spam on each of these email addresses.
So, when I receive solicitations to these email addresses, I know
right off it's spam and I take action. I let not only the sender
know that the mail was unsolicited and undesired, I also notify
every postmaster along the route to that person. Email spam is
against the TOS for many providers and can result in loss of
service. I found it interesting that in at least one case, the poor
sender bought a $99 mailing list and had no idea that sending email
spam is a no-no. The person who sold the mailing list implied to
this person that it was alright - just like direct mailings. I would
hope that the users of ActiveAgent have been educated in or at
least notified about the consequences of sending unsolicited email.
The issue of email spam is NOT THORNY - to me it's quite black and
white. If the email was unsolicited and unwarranted, then it's spam.
In the case of the email addresses for the web boards, it has been
made quite clear that the purpose of these email addresses is solely
for the use of contributing to the board discussions. I would take
it that ActiveAgent isn't smart enough to figure that out.
Oh, and when I find someone cruising my pages in order to pick up
email addresses (RoverBot is a great one for that), I block them
however I can.
And on to the personal note: I become furious when I receive
unsolicited email. I have enough to do in a day without having to
wade through that crap. The only action I take with that email is to
try and stop it. I WON'T BUY IT, USE IT, SEE IT, HEAR IT - you get
the idea.
-betsy
Betsy Dunphy, bld@aesir.com