I just received what I would describe as an e-mail informercial. It was set up like a newsletter, but I didn’t remember signing up for this particular newletter. Then I started reading it, and it was all about a product. There was even a “Dear Abby” type section that went something like this:
Q: Why is this such an amazing product?
-Lost and Confused
A: Dear Lost and Confused, studies have shown…
It even had a table of contents. Truly bizarre. If it were a parody, I would find it pretty funny, but this seems legit. This is the first time I have seen something like this. Has anyone else gotten these?
I get them through the regular post quite often, addressed to me personally, but not through e-mail (as yet). I try not to let too many people that I do not know well get hold of my e-mail addresses. It has worked up until now anyway. How these companies get your addresses and e-mail addresses is beyond me. You must sign up for something once and then you get put on a mailing list, and it’s just about impossible to get off again.
I get so much crap by email it is amazing. But I don’t even look at it before deleting it. In fact, I do not understand how they do those “bulk” mailings where my email address does not appear in the TO: line. But most of them I get are of that type and Y have my email program configured to delete them without even downloading them from the server. That gets rid if the great majority of spam.
The trouble now is, like silent_rob says, they are getting more elaborate. The big problem for me is when they send entire html pages and ad movies.
I got one from Oldmobile that was a movie but somehow made itself my screensaver. I hope I just clicked some optional button for that to happen, because otherwise it seems more like a virus.
At any rate, one day this week I got 3MB of junk from one company, all html pages, laid out like a catalog. I never signed up for it, because I’m really careful.
One way you get on “opt-in” lists by mistake is if you check “NO, don’t mail me anything” but have another error on your signup. If you have to go back to correct mismatched passwords, for example, they also have reset that box to “Yes”, and it’s below the end of your view so you don’t notice it’s changed.
This is just disgusting. Do we not have any privacy and right to communicate without being harassed by people wanting us to buy their crap!?!
I would like to know if this kinda type of advertising works? I think most people just delete them, so if they are not getting read, how are they successful?
Yeah, they are getting much more elaborate. I can usually spot the spam right off the bat. Then I just delete it. But now they’re disguised as newletters, and the like that lure me into opening them.
Yeah, and the fact that you get MB’s of html ads from these companies makes it even worse. It takes up storage space if I don’t check it for a little while.
The problem with e-mail is that it is cheap. It costs next to nothing for a company to send out tens of thousands of spam e-mails. And if just 2-3 people answer it more than pays for itself.