I like user andlarry's characterization: "very hill-climby optimization". The other technical CS term is "greedy". This is related to a much less bad (but stil

I like user andlarry's characterization: "very hill-climby optimization". The other technical CS term is "greedy". This is related to a much less bad (but still kinda bad) thing that companies often do, namely sending smarmbot emails: http://blog.beeminder.com/smarmbot http://blog.beeminder.com/smarmbot You could call what Angel List sent "nonconsensual smarmbot emails".