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The point is that each of us has different limits. I know some people who actually take the time to respond to every last email they get that is not from a friend, letting them know that, "What you are doing is illegal. If you persist, legal action will be taken." Of course, they never do actually take legal action, and the responses do absolutely nothing to deter the perpetrators of the spam, if they even manage to reach the offending party.

Others are more reasonable, and understand that companies have to do some degree of marketing in order to stay alive. If a well-known, respected company from whom you have purchased merchandise sends you an email informing you of their latest site updates, is that spam? Some would argue that it is, while others would argue that it is intelligent marketing.

I don't know what defines spam, or where we should draw the line. If we get too carried away with the spam complaints, we will end up in a world where all sponsorships are in major trouble, all because of a few rule-defying clients (e.g. the Aol/CEN suit). But on the other hand, far too much of our valuable time is spent sorting legitimate emails from the junk.

We'll never come to a common consensus on this issue, but we can do our best to try our best not to offend others. I'm not only referring to email spam, but also to message board spam, newsgroup spam, chat spam, instant messaging spam, or any other sort of spam. Nothing I tell you will guarantee that you won't get in any trouble, or that you won't offend a single person (some people look for a reason to be offended), but I can give you some suggestions that will minimize your offensiveness to near-nonexistence.

First and foremost, though I doubt you'll suffer any serious repercussions from pissing off a few surfers, if you piss off your fellow webmasters, you run the risk of striking right into the heart of the community. Piss off the wrong webmaster, and you can burn many bridges in one fatal swoop. If you can't do business with your peers, then you just can't do business. It's that simple.

I mention this because I've been noticing people doing several things that they obviously haven't thought through. First, there are a huge number of companies who are sending out emails to fellow webmasters who did not sign up for a mailing list. One resource in particular began sending me email about a year ago, and has consistently sent me spam in the form of a newsletter ever since. I would have let it go, but I had my email client set to check about three or four of the email addresses posted throughout the website, and every one of those email addresses received the newsletter from this resource. Obviously, a program had gathered all of the addresses from our site. Needless to say, the spam from this company became an issue on a few of the boards.

Here is my suggestion on email spam. We all understand that you have to market your site, and banner advertising isn't always enough. If you feel the need to spread the word about updates to your site, add an opt-in mailing list to your site. These are perfectly legal, rarely piss anyone off, and can be a very effective means of promotion.

Don't go to the message boards asking where you can buy a list of email addresses. This automatically tags you as a spammer, and you will get some extremely negative responses to your post. The industry as a whole does not react kindly to spam.

If you ask your fellow webmasters for link trades, then do so manually. Don't send mass email, or even carbon copies. Compose each of your emails individually, personalizing the email to each webmaster, and not only will you prevent any anger, but you will have a much better chance of winning those trades.

I've noticed several services blatantly spamming the webmaster message boards. Usually, it reads like this: "Try our product and it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!!!!!! And BEST of ALL, it's COMPLETELY FREE!!!! You NEVER pay a PENNY!!!! MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on your FIRST DAY!!!!!!!!!"

Isn't that FUCKING ANNOYING?!!!!!!!! GOD!!!! I HATE THAT!!!!

Consider this. The webmasters who are visiting these boards have seen these tricks a hundred times. Typing in all-caps, and adding a few dozen exclamation points will not help your sales a single percent. In fact, your post will likely get skipped over automatically or even deleted from the board completely. If you're lucky, you'll get a response, but I guarantee you it will read something like this, "Stop posting on this board, you spamming asshole." Perhaps these people would have really liked your product, but now they'll never even give it a try, because you've inspired their wrath.

If you want to promote your service on the boards, try this. Go to each board and introduce yourself. Get involved in some of the discussions that are going on. Most boards (ours excluded) will allow you to post a link with your name. Type a link to your site in that space, but don't even mention your service in the body of your posts. After people have become accustomed to seeing you involved in discussions, then they will be much more likely to respond in a positive way to any plugs you throw in.

When you do plug your service, regardless of how well people know and like you, if it looks like the example above, you will piss people off. So tone it down. Refrain from using more capital letters than good grammar allows. If you have to use an exclamation point, stick with just one. And don't blatantly post it as an ad. Make a change to your website, and announce the change. Add some content, and announce that content. Ask people for advice. Anything, just so long as your post has more use to the board's visitors than blatant advertising.

Of course, I'm speaking strictly of general discussion boards and educational/help boards. Many sites have a special board set aside for spam. If you really must post blatant ads, then use the boards these sites have set aside for that purpose. If a site has a spam board, and you choose to spam on their general board instead, then the anger you incite will be especially acute.

From my understanding, newsgroup spamming doesn't even work anymore. So if you were planning to spam the newsgroups, I would simply suggest reconsidering. It's just not worth the effort. If you must, however, I would suggest posting some sort of real content. Post a series of pictures on your chosen newsgroup, and add your link to the post. And post to each group individually. Cross posting is typically what pisses people off the worst. They visit one newsgroup, find a series of spams, visit another group, and find the exact same series of spams.

To sum all of this up, most webmasters, and even surfers, will understand the necessity for active advertising and marketing. They will likely be sympathetic and forgiving of the occasional minor and tasteful infraction. But use some common sense. Not only will you piss people off by crossing certain boundaries, but also it will likely have a negative impact on your company. You will lose legitimacy, you will piss off potential customers, you will attract the ill will of your competition, and for what? Most people who see your spam will likely ignore it anyway.

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