Any unsolicited bulk email is spam, whether it is topical or not. I don't subscribe to bulletin boards or mailing lists to become an avenue for someone's great marketing schemes. If they build it, I will come. They don't need to bring it to me.

Yes, their information seems fairly worthwhile, but they've lost me by adding me to their mailing list without my permission.

I'm not very kind to telemarketers either. I'm polite enough--the folks making the phone calls are not the folks making the decisions in the upstairs office, but I always stop them before they get into their pitch.

: For example: A woodworking catalog from some hardware store in Boise is
: nowhere near me, but if they have a source of stainless steel
: "t" nuts that they are selling thru mail order, then I'm
: interested in looking through their (unsolicited and free) catalog. I may
: never order from them, but it was their expense to try and interest me in
: their company. This is what free enterprise is all about. They are trying
: to build their business and I applaud the effort.

Sure, but a bulk email costs them nothing. Effort? Pah. Who is paying for your internet connection? The bulk emailer or you?

Who pays for junk postal mail? The solicitor or you?

: If they ever bury me under five or ten e-mails a week i'll ask them to cut
: back, or stop. But otherwise, I didn't mind in the leas receiving the
: e-mail from Wetdawg. I was kind flattered that they thought I deserved to
: be included.

A single, personalized email, maybe. I don't like being added to a list, though--most of them, if you reply to unsubscribe, simply confirms that you are an active email, making your email address even more valuable to the list-makers.

Best regards,

Shawn

: PGJ