No Mass Mailing!

• What is the problem you are trying to solve?
• If mass emails are a no-no, how do you contact many people effectively?
• If I receive email that says, if you don't want to receive any more messages, please send email that says 'REMOVE', should I do that?
• What can happen to my account if I spam the Internet?

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

Many newcomers to the Internet see advertisements for "Millions of email addresses for only $19.95!" or some such lure. It certainly sounds too good to be true, and trust me, it is.

Those emails gathered are almost always from unknowing people, AOL accounts, Compuserve accounts, posters to newsgroups, etc. Yes, it's been said that the more people you contact, the more business you will get. While this is true for conventional business, and even a bit on the Internet, remember the following - it's the quality reputation that you want to create. In the computing industries especially, the recipients are quite skilled in the Internet, and recognize SPAM (unsolicited email) for what it is, and cross your business off the list.

Consider it this way - it's better to contact 10 people who are qualified and want to hear about your business than 100 who ignore you or worse. So what do you do?
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If mass emails are a no-no, how do you contact many people effectively?

You do it selectively. Many websites exist which cater to those candidates looking for a job - create a standard mail message from your browser, and for every active mailto: link on such a page, send them your intro letter. If you are skilled in programming, you can write scripts which do this automatically (Remember! This is for selective, targeted people, folks who would be interested! Do NOT do this for non-qualified groups of people!).

Yes, it's more time consuming. But the potentials are there. Like any good business on the Internet, it takes time to establish yourself. Remember your goals - qualified business leads. It works.
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If I receive email that says, if you don't want to receive any more messages, please send email that says 'REMOVE', should I do that?

No! No! A million times no! While a small fraction of these senders might actually honor your request (you'll have better luck winning the 10 million dollar sweepstakes, btw), the majority of senders will say, Wheeee! A confirmed address of a Real Live Person!

And you'll start to receive even more spam. It's similar to Darwinism. In nature, the smart creature that sits and hides tend to escape notice much more than the individual that says, here I am! :-)
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What can happen to my account if I spam the Internet?

Mean, evil cruel things. Some Internet Service Providers take on the 'don't ask, don't bother' policy and are friendly to spammers, while others will deactivate your account. Annoyed recipients (if they have your email address) will send off hate mail to your systems administrator and even publicize your name as a spammer. Not the kind of friendly relationships you are trying to establish.
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