I got a random icq person... started chattin me up... got interesting. I thought I'd share.
Now, as I stated... I have nothing against other people who do this "opt-in email trading" thing... but I just personally don't. But this guy.. well, he took it personally.
PS. The last line is the best
Session Start (ICQ - 5636347:Boselecta): Mon Jul 07 10:58:19 2003
[10:58] Boselecta: hi
[10:58] StuartD: Hey
[10:58] Boselecta: What biz are you in?
[10:59] StuartD: I run an adult webmaster resource site.
[10:59] Boselecta: Oh yeah
[11:00] Boselecta: Got any Adult opt-ins for sale?
[11:00] StuartD: Nope... I've never collected any emails. I prefer to stay away from spam of any type
[11:00] Boselecta: Opt-in I said
[11:01] StuartD: Heh.. yeah, I know... but if I sell you an optin list, it's no longer optin.. it's spam... since they never opted in to anything you have.
[11:02] Boselecta: Well if it has ip stamps its opt-in.
[11:02] StuartD: Yeah but.. they didn't opt-in to you in any way... you buy the list. So if they didn't opt-in.. then.... it's not an opt-in list anymore.
[11:03] Boselecta: But its targeted
[11:03] StuartD: It's still spam.
[11:04] Boselecta: I wouldn't say so
[11:04] StuartD: Well... you're emailing people who never asked to be emailed by you.
[11:04] StuartD: That's kinda the definition of spam.
[11:04] Boselecta: But there interested in online porn though
[11:06] Boselecta: Dude If your gonna moan/complain about spam go join some organisation
[11:06] StuartD: Who's moaning and complaining?
[11:07] Boselecta: If people wanna spam thats there business
[11:07] StuartD: Yes... so go ahead and do it.
[11:07] StuartD: but you can't tell me that taking me list and emailing everyone on it isn't spamming it.
[11:08] Boselecta: You read to many nbc articles
[11:08] StuartD: tr.v. spammed, spam·ming, spams
1. To send unsolicited e-mail to.
2. To send (a message) indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups.
[11:09] Boselecta: Not a crime
[11:09] StuartD: uh huh... so why are you arguing so viamently that what you're doing isn't spamming?
[11:10] Boselecta: Dude stop crying jesus christ - sending a product/service to a targeted list isn't spamming
[11:10] Boselecta: Called opt-in mailing
[11:11] StuartD: selling something by email to a bunch of people who never asked you to email them at all... is spam.
[11:11] Boselecta: Its not the end of the world, dude
[11:11] StuartD: And I'm not crying... did you think that your teachers were crying because they were trying to teach you something too?
[11:11] Boselecta: I couldn't care less about spam
[11:12] StuartD: No, it's not the end of hte world... I have no problem with other people spamming.. by all means. But like I said... I don't share my lists for such a thing.
[11:12] StuartD: You couldn't... but millions of people do hate spam.
[11:12] Boselecta: I do care about targeted opt-in lists
[11:13] Boselecta: If people make money out of spam then well done to them - obviously they have a good business mind.
[11:13] StuartD: Yep...
[11:13] StuartD: I agree.
[11:13] StuartD: no ethics really.
[11:13] StuartD: but do good business.
[11:14] Boselecta: IF your in the email marketing business and you get a good Adult or Gambling list, that could mean a new Benz or house.
[11:14] StuartD: Still doesn't improve your code of ethics. You still emailed a whole lot of people who never asked to be emailed.
[11:15] Boselecta: ethics doesn't come into email marketing
[11:15] StuartD: It's like pissing off 10,000 people to make one person buy something so you can get a Benz... to me, that's not the best way to make me happy.
[11:16] StuartD: spamming millions of people with stuff that they didn't ask for or don't want so you can get a house... that has a lot to do with ethics.
[11:17] Boselecta: So I sent out a 100k Gambling list last month - made 200k in deposits - now I really did piss those people off didn't I.
[11:17] StuartD: how many of those 100k didn't give you any money?
[11:17] Boselecta: More of a question of how many opted out
[11:18] StuartD: yeah... how many of those, and how many didn't buy? Put those together and you have your number of pissed off people.
[11:18] Boselecta: But the main thing is you can mail an Adult opt-in list 2/3 times and make a killing regardless
[11:19] Boselecta: Sure they were pissed off?
[11:19] StuartD: No, because why would they write articles in nbc?
[11:19] Boselecta: about spam
[11:20] StuartD: Yes... your spam.
[11:20] Boselecta: you probably read to many papers aswell about it
[11:20] StuartD: you send emails to people that have never wanted you to have their email list.. you're spamming them.
[11:21] StuartD: Go make your money... I'm sure you've bought plenty of Benz's and houses to be crying to me all this time...
[11:21] StuartD: shoo... go bug someone else.
[11:21] Boselecta: Dude if I wanna send out email I'll send it out
[11:21] StuartD: good.
[11:21] StuartD: please do.
[11:21] StuartD: bye
[11:21] Boselecta: I don't give a ff who moans
[11:22] Boselecta: Not as if i'm selling weapons of mass destruction am i.