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Ask HN: When Did It Become Professionally Acceptable to Spam?

Recently, I've been getting a ton of e-mails from "legitimate" companies. These are usually sales reps trying to sell some online service (TriNet, Gigya, etc.), and they invariably ask you for "15 minutes". They get your contact info as a business owner from some DB in the ether. I get that they're just making a living, but the thing is, they don't give up. They just keep e-mailing with meeting requests, etc. and some even act annoyed that you aren't responding--as if you know them and you're the one who's being unprofessional. Did I miss something? When did this become cool?

donohoe 14y ago
Its only been a recent experience for me (last 12 months). The ones that grate on me the most are where their one core product is completely irrelevant to me - and some basic research on their part would have revealed this.
- unclebucknasty 14y ago
  Yep. It's definitely picked up for me in the last 12 months or so. That's why it seems like there's some new edict for SaaS providers only that says, "Spamming is now proper business etiquette. Go forth now, and spam with impunity".
gesman 14y ago
Report all these emails as spam. One click. Telemarketing phone calls are best treated by putting spammer on an infinite hold in expectation of sale. Their time is valuable and they'll absolutely hate wasting it unproductively. Rinse and repeat.
ibudiallo 14y ago
Spam has always been from big companies. Check your spam folder a lot will take you to AT&T, Amazon, best buy, eBay and so on.
- unclebucknasty 14y ago
  Some I get from companies because I've done business with them. That's OK (as long as they let me opt out). For instance, I've not really had a problem with any of those you listed above. It's the business-oriented SaaS providers in particular that are suddenly out of control. They spam relentlessly and refuse to be ignored.
mead5432 14y ago
The worst I have experienced is from the Duke MBA program. I took the GMAT which is where they got my email from... now I get 3 emails a week despite completing the MBA at another school over a year ago. Their emails do not have an unsubscribe. I tried responding and requesting to be taken off the list... nothing. I even tried calling but their office appears to be open only between the hours of 2:30 - 3:30 EST. I have marked it as spam but every once in a while they change up the email and it sneaks through. It's incredibly annoying but a bit funny at the same time.
- unclebucknasty 14y ago
  Ha! Funny how effortless it is for them to bug the heck out of you.
1123581321 14y ago
I have no problem with anyone e-mailing me. It's highly professional of them to solicit my business -- really! However, most of these aren't compliant with CANSPAM and I have a big problem with that, because even the most personal, friendly e-mail from a company to me is something that should come with an unsubscribe mechanism. I find in practice that replying with a quick, "no thanks," gets rid of most of the unwanted e-mails. There are some who ask if they can follow-up, and I either say yes or no as I like and my wishes are almost always followed. Again, most of these people are professionals. The repeat offenders who don't listen to me, or those obviously mass-emailing, I send to the spam folder, and I find those messages were the least professional in the beginning.
- unclebucknasty 14y ago
  I think I could deal with a single email from each vendor. Maybe even two if the second catches me on a good day. But, this incessant, "we will force you to reply and act increasingly irritated if you don't" bit is out of control. Like I owe them my time? It also doesn't give me much confidence that they will actually stop. My gripe is why should I be forced to make an effort to get someone to stop bugging me?
  - 1123581321 14y ago
    It's a good question, but it's simply the nature of human communication that one party can initiate it and the other party needs to communicate back to prevent future initiations. E-mail just makes it easier for more parties to initiate communication with you. I think a B2B do-not-solicit database will never happen, but it would be quite useful to have a database of businesses that promise to report to spam anybody who does not meet a certain standard of conduct.
    - unclebucknasty 14y ago
      Except that a non-reply is a form of communication, especially in this context. Sorry, I'm just not buying that it's acceptable human behavior to bug the heck out of someone because you want something from them, then act as if they owe you.

donohoe 14y ago

Its only been a recent experience for me (last 12 months). The ones that grate on me the most are where their one core product is completely irrelevant to me - and some basic research on their part would have revealed this.

unclebucknasty 14y ago
Yep. It's definitely picked up for me in the last 12 months or so. That's why it seems like there's some new edict for SaaS providers only that says, "Spamming is now proper business etiquette. Go forth now, and spam with impunity".

gesman 14y ago

Report all these emails as spam. One click. Telemarketing phone calls are best treated by putting spammer on an infinite hold in expectation of sale. Their time is valuable and they'll absolutely hate wasting it unproductively. Rinse and repeat.

ibudiallo 14y ago

Spam has always been from big companies. Check your spam folder a lot will take you to AT&T, Amazon, best buy, eBay and so on.

unclebucknasty 14y ago
Some I get from companies because I've done business with them. That's OK (as long as they let me opt out). For instance, I've not really had a problem with any of those you listed above. It's the business-oriented SaaS providers in particular that are suddenly out of control. They spam relentlessly and refuse to be ignored.

mead5432 14y ago

The worst I have experienced is from the Duke MBA program. I took the GMAT which is where they got my email from... now I get 3 emails a week despite completing the MBA at another school over a year ago. Their emails do not have an unsubscribe. I tried responding and requesting to be taken off the list... nothing. I even tried calling but their office appears to be open only between the hours of 2:30 - 3:30 EST. I have marked it as spam but every once in a while they change up the email and it sneaks through. It's incredibly annoying but a bit funny at the same time.

unclebucknasty 14y ago
Ha! Funny how effortless it is for them to bug the heck out of you.

1123581321 14y ago

I have no problem with anyone e-mailing me. It's highly professional of them to solicit my business -- really! However, most of these aren't compliant with CANSPAM and I have a big problem with that, because even the most personal, friendly e-mail from a company to me is something that should come with an unsubscribe mechanism. I find in practice that replying with a quick, "no thanks," gets rid of most of the unwanted e-mails. There are some who ask if they can follow-up, and I either say yes or no as I like and my wishes are almost always followed. Again, most of these people are professionals. The repeat offenders who don't listen to me, or those obviously mass-emailing, I send to the spam folder, and I find those messages were the least professional in the beginning.

unclebucknasty 14y ago
I think I could deal with a single email from each vendor. Maybe even two if the second catches me on a good day. But, this incessant, "we will force you to reply and act increasingly irritated if you don't" bit is out of control. Like I owe them my time? It also doesn't give me much confidence that they will actually stop. My gripe is why should I be forced to make an effort to get someone to stop bugging me?
- 1123581321 14y ago
  It's a good question, but it's simply the nature of human communication that one party can initiate it and the other party needs to communicate back to prevent future initiations. E-mail just makes it easier for more parties to initiate communication with you. I think a B2B do-not-solicit database will never happen, but it would be quite useful to have a database of businesses that promise to report to spam anybody who does not meet a certain standard of conduct.
  - unclebucknasty 14y ago
    Except that a non-reply is a form of communication, especially in this context. Sorry, I'm just not buying that it's acceptable human behavior to bug the heck out of someone because you want something from them, then act as if they owe you.