Email Chain Letters and Spam, mmmmm Spam.

Like everyone with an email account, I get numerous email chain letters a week. 99% of them I don't even read, I realize what they are by the subject line, and normally just delete them. However there are rare occasions where an email chain letter is cleverly written and sounds very believable and naturally I have to check out to see if the claims made in the chain letter are true. However, some people read them, don't take the time to confirm whether or not the information is false, freak out, and forward them to everyone in their address book, thus creating a "chain" of hysteria. I'm not upset with the people who send them to me. I mean, if they think enough of me to forward them thinking I may want that information, that's fine. My issue is with the people who create these things. I fail to see what pleasure is derived from the creation of these vile things, and all I can say is, FOR SHAME!

Now, even though I'm not fond of email chain letters, I don't hate them nearly as much as spam. No, not the stuff on the grocery store shelf covered in dust, I'm talking about unsolicited email advertising. Oh My Lord how I hate that stuff. I can't count how many email accounts I've just closed and abandoned just to get away from the stuff. The scary thing is, some people make a good living distrusting this garbage! Even with all the spam filters set up at the users end, and at the ISP's end, this stuff still get's through. I understand that sometimes, to earn a living, you do what you must. However, I just don't think I could be proud to say I distribute emails regarding penis enlargement supplements for a living. I mean, it's not exactly a great pick up line at a bar, or something you'd speak about at your child's school on career day now is it?

How do these jerks get your email address in the first place? oh, that's just the icing on the cake. You sign up for a newsletter from a website you frequently visit, the owners of that website sell your email address to someone else, and they sell it to someone else, and it just snowballs until you check your email and you're getting 200 emails a day about things you'd never talk about even in private. I guess everything boils down to the bottom dollar, and finding new and inventive ways to make that dollar, and wasn't this rant about SPAM and Email Chain Letters?