the Daily Whale - 11 June 2010

business: Let’s see, CAN-SPAM is next on the agenda.
shoulder devil: That means MUST-SPAM.
shoulder angel: No, stay good! It means SHOULD-SPAM.
business: It says we have to provide an unsubscribe mechanism.
devil: Yeah, but only customers care whether it works.
angel: Do even customers care?
devil: It’s fun to make them call Customer Entertainment and pretend that we’re helping.
angel: What I mean is, it’s all gravy. We get credit for new business from the campaign, and lost business from everybody we infuriate can’t be recognized in any of our metrics.
business: OK, that’s a decision.
devil: Do I need to try harder?

My experience is that many businesses can avoid the temptation to spam me, but that if they start, no force can stop them. Well, I haven’t tried tornadoes. So I blacklist them and never check whether they’ve learned their lesson—it’s what my shoulder angel suggested.

11 June 2010 - SHOULD-SPAM

clue: