Is email worth it?
SPAM is getting worse, much worse. I just pruned my SPAM folder (going back to February 2006) and had over 68,000 emails. I spent several hours looking for real emails via keywords. I found about 20 emails that were legitimate. Was it worth the effort? Probably not. Most of the messages were order confirmations, but there were a few from family members that were nice to recover.
I have had the same email address, raven@rinzai.com, since 1995. I don’t bother using the tricks to obfuscate the email address for web robots anymore because I was an active poster to USENET during the early to mid 90’s and those records are forever searchable on Google Groups. My email address is everywhere for SPAM purveyors to harvest.
I have considered changing my email address, but this is only a temporary solution (at some point, the SPAM will build up again), and it makes it difficult to stay in touch with old friends. There is a tremendous convenience that comes with having the same email address for life. I’d rather hold out for some technology solution that makes SPAM manageable, but that may take some time. I’ve been waiting for a decade now – will I have to wait another decade?
Maybe the solution is to just abandon email. I am envious of Umberto Eco, who has stated: “I don’t even have an e-mail address. I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages.” An interesting thought.
Email is a burden in many ways. Most people know that the best way to reach me is by phone or IM – two communications technologies that are less prone to commercial abuse. I do worry about the future of IM, but so far, so good!
That said, I do appreciate receiving my brother’s travel journals, links to photos, forwarded news stories, notes from family and friends, and the like. It’s just impossible to keep up with the quantity, all while managing the SPAM.
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