Tarnished ... ruined ... spammed!
Once your blog is a month old (yay me!), you can list it on BlogHer, so I did. I also signed up for BlogHer newsletters, including one that is all about freebies, giveaways and that kind of thing.
The freebie newsletter included information about a promotion to receive a free makeup kit. I assumed it was something special through BlogHer. After clicking the link and filling in my e-mail address, though, all I got was page after page of lists of "do you want to receive more information about x company," and you had to check yes or no before preceding to the next page. I gave up after page four of this nonsense (I must be a slow learner) and never got to the page about the stupid makeup kit.
So as I said, I started this blog a little over a month ago (yay!), and that called for a new e-mail account to match the name of the blog. A nice, as-yet-unknown-to-spammers e-mail account. My beautiful, spam-free e-mail inbox is no more, however, thanks to the mistake I made with the BlogHer freebie. Even though I canceled my request for the makeup kit and told the marketing company to take me off the list, I am getting loads of spam now, suddenly. I've gotten 53 spam e-mails so far today.
A Dooney & Burke handbag is pending if I will just fill out a survey. A $500 Costco gift card. Free Southwest Airline tickets. Free Exxon gas card. One spam message says I can rid my colon of weight and toxins. (Hey, no one calls my colon fat.) Another says I can become a radiologic technologist. (How did they know I was looking to make a career change into that field?) I can also "relax on a cruise today at no cost." (Today?) I can even get a Medicare-covered power chair. (Even if I'm not on Medicare?)
All of this junk just because I wanted to score some free makeup -- a link from a respected source.
I've learned my lesson. There is no free lunch -- and no free makeup!
The freebie newsletter included information about a promotion to receive a free makeup kit. I assumed it was something special through BlogHer. After clicking the link and filling in my e-mail address, though, all I got was page after page of lists of "do you want to receive more information about x company," and you had to check yes or no before preceding to the next page. I gave up after page four of this nonsense (I must be a slow learner) and never got to the page about the stupid makeup kit.
So as I said, I started this blog a little over a month ago (yay!), and that called for a new e-mail account to match the name of the blog. A nice, as-yet-unknown-to-spammers e-mail account. My beautiful, spam-free e-mail inbox is no more, however, thanks to the mistake I made with the BlogHer freebie. Even though I canceled my request for the makeup kit and told the marketing company to take me off the list, I am getting loads of spam now, suddenly. I've gotten 53 spam e-mails so far today.
A Dooney & Burke handbag is pending if I will just fill out a survey. A $500 Costco gift card. Free Southwest Airline tickets. Free Exxon gas card. One spam message says I can rid my colon of weight and toxins. (Hey, no one calls my colon fat.) Another says I can become a radiologic technologist. (How did they know I was looking to make a career change into that field?) I can also "relax on a cruise today at no cost." (Today?) I can even get a Medicare-covered power chair. (Even if I'm not on Medicare?)
All of this junk just because I wanted to score some free makeup -- a link from a respected source.
I've learned my lesson. There is no free lunch -- and no free makeup!
posted by Holly at 1:52 PM
5 Comments:
Happy 1 month! And you're right, no free lunch is right!
Ugh, I hate spam. If you're using Gmail, I just delete everything in my Spam box and anything in my inbox that looks remotely close to spam gets tagged as spam :(
It's so annoying....like when telemarketers call your house.
How sad that your start in the blogging world meant a start in the spamming world. Happy one month none the less!
Oh, I am terribly sorry that happened. I write the newsletter and try my hardest to vet every single link that I send out. This one got away from me and I truly apologize. It is not my intention (or BlogHers) to spam people. I will make an extra effort to check links more thoroughly going forward. Again, so sorry.
-Stefania
I. Hate. Spam.
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