Spam amongst friends

Email is really amazing; I just wish some people could be blocked from using it. We all know that there is not much that can be done to stop the spambots, these are automated computer programs designed with the sole intent of bombarding our inboxes with lots and lots of junk. Luckily for us, our ever effective spam filters stop these emails dead in their tracks. The same cannot be said for friendly spammers.

Yes, that's right, I said it. Friends too can be spammers. They send us emails containing a joke that they think is funny. They send us emails about missing children in Australia. They even send us emails about how if we send this email to 10 of our friends, we will have a good thing happen to us that week (one good thing... how amazingly awesome!!!)

Even though this type of spam ranks as fairly innocent in the face of bootleg Viagra peddlers and Nigerian "princes," indiscriminate email blasts to one's acquaintances is never well received. Nobody wants to live in a world where giving contact info to a friend or colleague is tantamount to checking the "Yes, please keep me informed about exciting product offers!" box.

This problem among acquaintances seems to be evolving with the advent of social networking sites where spamming takes on the form of status updates, group and cause invitations, and "tweets". Unless one sets it otherwise, you will be getting these new forms of spam as email notifications, it seems friendly spam will never go away.

The only remaining option (tough but effective) is to mark Facebook, Twitter and friendly spammers as junk mail.