If popularity is measured in the number of emails received daily then I should be extremely popular, however, there is a flaw in thinking that way. Spams have run amok. They have taken over the Internet in a way heretofore unknown to all of mankind.
I exaggerate some but not by much. You see, I receive over 150 spam emails daily. That equates to 5475 unsolicited annoyances yearly, and these are the ones that make it through the filters for sex, Viagra and the myriad other blocks I put on the emails by changing their words slightly such as vi@gra and so forth.
If each of those emails were envelopes containing junk mail weighing half an ounce each I would be receiving 171 pounds of mail each year in advertising. It reminds me of a story I saw about a man that tried getting on as many mailing lists as possible to use the junk mail to heat his home.
I feel my email address, like my street address, is an extension of who I am and in order to change it I would have to notify all my work and personal acquaintances to the new address. I have since started the process by adding a second email address similar to the first but different enough to distinguish the two.
In the meantime, I have to sift through all the unwanted messages to find the few gems that really have meaning to me and in my haste I some times lose those. I had a friend want to know why I didn?t answer his email. I had nothing to say but it got lost in the mail.
If I received that kind of mail at home I wouldn?t have the choice of changing my address. Can you imagine going to the city and requesting a new address? They would probably look at me funny and call for a white truck with white coated gentlemen to feed my colorful pills that would make me forget why I was even there.
I think something should be done about unwanted email traffic generated by all the spam engines. Hopefully you think so as well.