I wouldn't call this spam. Specifically because it is prompted and truly individualized.
Moreover, they use only intentionally public info (twitter and whois).
They also aren't pushing hard, this is essentially the softest sales-pitch that is actually a pitch.
I would call it Unsolicited Commercial Email, because that's precisely what it is.
I suppose you could philosophically contort a meaning by which "it's not really spam if you squint", but if I get that garbage in my GMail I hammer that "report as spam" button so fast, and encourage everyone else to do likewise.
Beyond the semantics, the meaningful difference to me lies in the targeting. This was targeted by a human and very specifically. It was also targeted at a business.
I see a big contrast between this and high-volume automated advertising sent to any email the sender could get his hands on. Even more so because business can benefit from such unsolicited email. Unsolicited email to consumers / personal mail is worse in my opinion.
If I tweet something and someone tries to email me to sell me something about it, that's completely spam and I will continue to mark it as such and advocate that others mark it as such. How the hell is that not spam?
Comments
I wouldn't call this spam. Specifically because it is prompted and truly individualized. Moreover, they use only intentionally public info (twitter and whois).
They also aren't pushing hard, this is essentially the softest sales-pitch that is actually a pitch.
I would call it Unsolicited Commercial Email, because that's precisely what it is.
I suppose you could philosophically contort a meaning by which "it's not really spam if you squint", but if I get that garbage in my GMail I hammer that "report as spam" button so fast, and encourage everyone else to do likewise.
Beyond the semantics, the meaningful difference to me lies in the targeting. This was targeted by a human and very specifically. It was also targeted at a business.
I see a big contrast between this and high-volume automated advertising sent to any email the sender could get his hands on. Even more so because business can benefit from such unsolicited email. Unsolicited email to consumers / personal mail is worse in my opinion.
It is not completely Unsolicited because the client has asked for help on twitter.
If I tweet something and someone tries to email me to sell me something about it, that's completely spam and I will continue to mark it as such and advocate that others mark it as such. How the hell is that not spam?