It Wastes Time

1. It's very irritating going through your mail and having to weed through and delete all the get-rich-quick, pornographic, and other offers from people who shouldn't have your e-mail address. The most scarce resource is increasingly peoples' time and attention -- and none of us can afford to have it ripped off by spammers.

It's Offensive

2. Quite a bit of the Spam is offensive to a wide variety of people. Spam is sent to thousands, sometimes millions of people at a time. Sexual sites offering nude photos are received by nuns and children. Often profanity and obscenity is used in the subject line -- making it virtually impossible to avoid.

Increases Download Time

3. If you don't have a fast modem, or if it's been a while since you checked your e-mail, Spam can make the retrieval of e-mail a very slow and irritating process.

Slower E-mail

4. Every piece of e-mail you receive and send goes through the system more slowly because of the millions of pieces of Spam choking the Internet network. Whether an e-mail message takes minutes or hours to reach its destination, it would have gotten there a little faster in a Spam-free system.

Destroys Legitimate E-Mail Services

5. Companies that send legitimate mail to subscribers may have their e-mail destroyed by the rising tide of Spam (See Below).

Destroy or Greatly Diminish the Net Entirely

6. Imagine what would happen if you received a piece of junk mail in your inbox from every company on earth -- and the mail was sent to you every day. The only reason this does not currently happen is the restraint exercised by most business people. Sending Spam costs the sender almost nothing -- all they need is a list of e-mail addresses and Spam software, both of which can be bought very cheaply.

It is not difficult or expensive to send Spam to a million different people -- and that same piece of Spam could be sent every day forever -- at virtually no additional cost to the sender.

There is the potential for Spam to completely overwhelm the network, and for so much to end up in your mailbox as to make e-mail virtually worthless. Don't think this is impossible -- Spam helped ruin many once-thriving Usenet communities. Don't let it happen again.

Accidental Filtering

7. As Internet Service Providers try to filter Spam on behalf of their customers, many legitimate messages get filtered out. An ISP will often halt all mail coming from a particular domain in order to stop spamming originating within that domain. The unfortunate side effect is legitimate email being sent from users within that domain will also be filtered out. In other words, if an ISP screens out a spammer using the Earthlink domain, no e-mail from Earthlink users can get to customers of that ISP.

Why web publishers hate Spam.

Lose Advertising

1. Most web publishers are coming to the realization that people won't be willing to pay for content for quite some time, if ever. So, like radio and TV, publishers will be completely dependent on advertising.

But if spammers can get away with sending advertising to people who don't want it, at no cost to the spammers, the legitimate business of selling advertising space on the web will be destroyed, or at least greatly diminished. Publishers with no market for advertising will be forced out of business.

Spamming Publishers Gain Advantage

2. An ethical publisher would never try to gain exposure or new subscribers by spamming. Unfortunately, there are many who are not ethical, and try to increase their readership by sending Spam to millions of e-mail addresses. The vast majority of people are irritated by this Spam. But the spammer always gains a few new subscribers.

The irritation of the vast majority causes the publisher no harm, and they pick up new subscribers at very small cost. In this way unethical publishers who violate the widely accepted rules on netiquette gain a competitive advantage over those who don't Spam.

Slows Down Mailings to Subscribers

3. Legitimate mailing services who deliver daily e-mail to thousands of subscribers who have signed up for such mail are harmed. If you haven't received your normal e-mail today, it's probably on its way, but slowed down in a Spam-filled network.

Crowds Mail Boxes

4. One of the most frequent complaints of web users is that their mail box is too crowded. In fact, as Spam increases, it's possible that people simply won't be willing to dig through the huge piles of Spam to retrieve mailings they have signed up for.

Must Read Spam

5. Publishers really value the interaction with their readers made possible by e-mail. But, without looking at the message, a publisher can not always tell whether it is from a legitimate reader or a spammer. For instance, the subject line "Hi" is often used by spammers. It is also often used by readers commenting on a newsletter. Publishers are thus forced to either ignore potential reader comments or waste valuable time sifting through Spam.

This is also a very serious problem for other net businesses, especially those that provide support services. If you're wondering why you haven't heard back from your ISP regarding the e-mail you sent, they're probably busy sorting through hundreds of daily e-mails, many of them Spam.

Removal From Mailing Lists

6. Consumers can sometimes, but not always, be removed from mailing lists by inserting remove in the subject line and sending the mail back to the spammer. It many case, not only does not work, but it can often verify to a spammer that your e-mail address is in fact valid. This only prompts them to send further e-mail!