You probably know already how viruses work. Some chronic malcontent creates a piece of software that is designed to wreak havoc on all the other unsuspecting people on the Web who are using it the way it was intended – to transmit information to others.
There’s another way that’s a bit more subtle. In this one, a juicy rumor is begun. It often involves the name of a famous person; and some believable, but false message is attached to him or her. Everyone who receives the message is invited to send it to everyone in their address book. When that happens, the Web slows down because of all the baloney that well-meaning web users are passing around to other people. Snopes.com was set up to debunk many of these rumors, though even they do not get it right every time.
I want to introduce you to a third type of virus. It’s similar to spam, but is much more difficult to filter out of your inbox. Why? Because, in good faith, you signed up for it.
Then, there’s the added problem of companies that create a virus without realizing it, and it’s problem is getting bigger all the time. Let me explain.
If you are not in the online information business, it’s unlikely that you’ll be aware of much that happens behind the scenes. Most creators of information products eventually enlist the help of others to help sell their products. These people are called affiliates.
Although these people have mailing lists of their own, I suspect that some actually share their lists. I can’t prove this, of course, except to say that when I start getting messages from all and sundry with the same domain name, I have to wonder how they got my email address.
The company that really set me off today was ViralHosts.com. This company purports to provide the opportunity as an affiliate to market to others. What they don’t tell you is that if you sign up, all their affiliates will start mailing you with their offers. In my case, that’s exactly what happened.
I look at different marketing avenues all the time, if only to learn how things work and to follow online marketing trends. To date, I have no affiliates of my own, nor am I looking for any.
For me, however, ViralHosts really blew it. I went to their site, and as soon as I could figure it out, I cancelled my account. However, I’m still receiving messages from people with the viralhosts domain name who obviously have my email address. I tried logging in again to cancel the account, but couldn’t; so that means that I have no account, but I’m still getting unwanted email. Do you know what we call that? Spam.
So, I urge all of you to avoid this company. Don’t send this blog to everyone in your address book. Just be selective and pass it along to those who are most likely to benefit from it.
Tags: affiliates, viralhosts, virus
Snopes.com is interesting. A very good resource. It looks like you have also uncovered another company to put on the bottom of the list.
thanks!
Mike