Have you read any good spam e-mails lately? Yeah, me neither. They don’t get read or even opened. Most of mine comes from lists that don’t honor their unsubscribe requests. How these marketers think they’ve got a chance at making a sale after I’ve said NO and unsubscribed is beyond me. Of course, that’s not the only source of spam.
Thankfully, a few common sense steps can slow the deluge of spam to your e-mail inbox:
Spam: Where it Came From, and How to Escape It
by Tom Kulzer, CEO of AWeber
In 1936, long before the rise of the personal computer, Hormel Foods created SPAM. In 2002, the company will produce it’s six billionth can of the processed food product. But that mark was passed long ago in the world of Internet spam.
The modern meaning of the word “spam” has nothing to do with spiced ham. In the early 1990’s, a skit by British comedy group Monty Python led to the word’s common usage. “The SPAM Skit” follows a couple struggling to order dinner from a menu consisting entirely of Hormel’s canned ham.
Repetition is key to the skit’s hilarity. The actors cram the word “SPAM” into the 2.5 minute skit more than 104 times! This flood prompted Usenet readers to call unwanted newsgroup postings “spam.” The name stuck.
Spammers soon focused on e-mail, and the terminology moved with them. Today, the word has come out of technical obscurity. Now, “spam” is the common term for “Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail”, or “UCE.”
Why Does Bad Spam Happen to Good People?
Chances are, you’ve been spammed before. Somehow, your e-mail address has found its way into the hands of a spammer, and your inbox is suffering the consequences. How does this happen? There are several possibilities…
Read the rest of “Spam: Where it Came From, and How to Escape It” on the AWeber blog.
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing websites that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. It is the old what goes around comes around routine. Great stuff on this blog!
This is interesting. Who doesn’t want Spam right? Thank you for providing us a very informative post. Really nice.
This is quite interesting. I could never guess where the name spam came from even for a thousand bucks. I’m moving ahead to discover where spam comes from andwhere it’s going to
Thanks for this informative article, it entails on the history on how do spam started. Also in the modern world today wherein everyone is much dependent on the power of internet many people who do online business uses emails to promote their product and services because of they tend to spam other.
Spammers are bad? If so, how to avoid spamming? Sorry if I ask but I just want to know more about this and your blogs answered my entire question. Thanks!
Thank you for your comments, Linda. This is definitely a topic you don’t want to get wrong! Glad we could clear up some confusion.
There are lots of bots and automated software hanging around to collect email addresses to spam us:D