Wi-Fi / Cellular Converged Devices: When Is The Tipping Point?

More People Coming To Terms With Their Spam Filled Email Boxes

from the could-be-worse dept

Wed, May 23rd 2007 6:08pm — Mike Masnick

A new study suggests that while spam continues to increase, people are less likely to complain about it. Of course, plenty of people are still complaining. The study shows that only 28% of people say spam doesn't bother them, up from 16%. However, that still means that there are 72% of people out there who aren't at all happy about the spam in their inbox. What isn't clear from the article, though, is how many of the people who have come to terms with spam are actually clicking and buying from it -- because that's where it becomes a nuisance for the rest of us. If people actually learned to ignore spam, then spam wouldn't be such a profitable enterprise and would hopefully start to decrease.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

23 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

charlie potatoes, 23 May 2007 @ 7:17pm

nice thought...
And if an elephant had wings he would be a very big bird.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
awesome, 23 May 2007 @ 7:19pm

well...
just get gmail! :) i get less than 1 spam in my actual inbox per month and about 2000 in my spam folder. hotmail only blocks like half..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Koresho, 23 May 2007 @ 7:48pm

Gmail = King
I agree with #2 I have had Gmail ever since it was invite only and their spam controls have only gotten better. Now I have been using the same email address for about seven months and I NEVER get spams in my inbox- they all go to spam folder. You know why?
Gmail shares its anti-spam database with all users of gmail. Therefore, when enough users block a certain address because of spam it gets blocked google-wide (or so I was told). This makes for an extremely effective spam filter.
Couple that with virtually unlimited storage and a easy to use interface, well you have one hell of a email service.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tony, 23 May 2007 @ 8:47pm

MailFoundry
Just go sign up for web/email hosting at United Hosting (American Hosting Available as well) and utilize the MailFoundry anti-spam system which will make your spam a thing of the past!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Slinkey Pusher, 23 May 2007 @ 8:49pm

Well most of us have set up online accounts for that type junk. Never give out your home email except too family.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Endojoe, 23 May 2007 @ 8:50pm

Gmail is where it's at
I agree on the Gmail. It's been my primary email account for 2 years as of next month, I have dozens of online bill pay and login accounts and use that address everywhere, i might get 1 spam that makes it through to my inbox every month...over 1000 in my spam folder a month. Only two instances where messages I actually wanted ended up marked as spam, and I found them and fixed it in about 10 seconds. Get Gmail. Nearly 3 gigs of storage now too. 8-) Everybody knows somebody that they can get an invite from...just ask.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
joe, 23 May 2007 @ 8:56pm

gmail fo' sheezy
like probably almost everyone else who reads this blog (preaching to the choir, anyone?) Gmail does me just fine. Spam is not a problem at all for me.

And I've converted lots of people. Grandparents, in-laws, other friends. If they're not willing to give up their ISP account, like most of them have, then I just set up POP or forwarding inside gmail. So gmail goes and checks their mail, filters it, then they can download it from gmail. Or if their ISP allows forwarding, I just forward it to their gmail and download it. This way, they can keep their old addresses, and their old and new gmail addresses will both work, but no more spam.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
steve, 23 May 2007 @ 9:00pm

maia
My server admin uses maia anti spam software. It rocks. My box if unfiltered gets 200+ spams a day. With the filter its maybe 3. When you have had your email address for 10 years you want to keep it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sergey, 23 May 2007 @ 9:26pm

Keep on Gmailing
So I guess the answer is that spam is as bad as ever, but we don't notice it because we all have Gmail. And fyi to #6 endojoe-- you don't need referrals anymore to get Gmail. Re: #5 who says set up junk-mail account and then don't give out home email address to anyone but family. Well, I initially thought the same way & that's why I got the gmail account. Soon I realized that their spam filter is almost 100% effective, and now I give out my gmail address to family too. I'd like to use Gmail for my business email, b/c whatever spam filtering my office uses does not work as well as gmail!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Eric the Grey, 23 May 2007 @ 9:36pm

Perhaps
Perhaps, even though the amount of spam being sent is increasing, the tools the admins use to filter it are getting better, and the increase is simply not noticed by the end users.

EtG
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Nick, 23 May 2007 @ 10:01pm

ISP Accounts aren't so bad, if you have an ISP tha
I run an ISP, and it's a bit frustrating. I've got some of the best anti-spam software on the market (Cloudmark). My work email address has been around 5 years, and is on plenty of trade rag lists and who knows how many times it's been scraped off our website. I *might* get 5 spams in my inbox per *week*. The mail server blocks the other several thousand outright.

A lot of ISP's have stepped up and significantly improved their antispam software, but the users don't notice because they switched to 'web mail' services years ago and don't even think to give their ISP's a second chance.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve, 23 May 2007 @ 10:43pm

Gmail!!
I have had GMail for years and can say I to do not get Spam.. Funny story is that for a year or more after I got it I was just amazed that I wasn't getting ANY Spam.. Later realized there was a folder catching it. The Spam is tucked away good.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve, 23 May 2007 @ 10:47pm

Almost Forgot..
If you are afraid that you won't get that one important solicited e-mail due to the SPAM folder picking it up. It doesn't happen. Anything I wasnt to get through the SPAM blocker Does Automatically.

With Hotmail it seems like I get all the SPAM in my e-mail and the rare piece of mail that I want is thrown into the Trash.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mike allen, 23 May 2007 @ 11:39pm

why cant we
When we get junk mail through the snail mail we tend to hold on to them then after we get enough (about a week ) we write the details of letter A in the reply box of letter B then continue until all those who have sent us junk mail get loads of junk mail them selves they dont stop coming but revenge is sweet.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cixelsid, 24 May 2007 @ 1:52am

Spam is amusing
I often laugh out loud when I read some of the titles of the messages in my spam folder. Who in their right mind would click on a link that says "Have a cock that is better looking than your face"?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mark, 24 May 2007 @ 1:56am

+1 for Gmail
Spam? What spam? What we need now is a way to send crab lice to the spammers.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Peet McKimmie (profile), 24 May 2007 @ 1:59am

Re: why cant we
If they send a reply paid envelope, just tape it to a house brick and post it back - they have to pay the postage. :-)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dav, 24 May 2007 @ 5:52am

Spam filter
I also use G mail and have no problems at all. When spam is filters effectively it becomes an easy issue to forget about.

It is all about picking the right service and making sure spam filters are set up properly.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Gustavo, 24 May 2007 @ 5:54am

Wait sitting
Spam is very cheap to make. No matter how little money it makes, it will still be profitable. If you're gonna wait for spam to loose it's profitability, wait sitting so you don't get tired very soon.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sam Fazzina, 24 May 2007 @ 6:05am

Re: well...
I concour.
Gmail rocks.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Wizard Prang, 24 May 2007 @ 6:26am

Well... said!
I, too, am impressed by Gmail.

http://wizardprang.com/2007/04/16/why-gmail-is-better/
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Marcster, 24 May 2007 @ 11:04am

While we're on the subject...
http://www.spamusement.com "Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines!"

Some of the cartoons are downright hilarious.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cixelsid, 25 May 2007 @ 5:28am

GMail
Ditto
[ link to this | view in thread ]