Spam is both the trademarked name of a canned ham meat product and it can be the abuse of electronic mail to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages.

There are those of us who are reluctant to admit liking the first type. Many entering the business on the web are concerned for how to avoid the second type.

First be assured that unless you are of nefarious intent, this applies to you. Somehow all the laws in the world do not stop bad people from spamming. For the rest of us, we will get in trouble, even if we are innocently involved in spamming.

How can you make sure the next time you read about spamming it is an interesting read in the news and not court transcripts that have your name on them. What can you do to avoid making a mistake.

Get educated. Learn what you can and cannot do.

Here is one of the most basic e-mail spam examples.

Email List Spam Examples

Lets say you have a lot of e-mail addresses from your splork customers. They are part of your business database or you have collected them from your opt in page. You keep them apprised of the latest sales, offerings and what is new in the world of splorks.

The reason they signed up and gave you their e-mail is because they wanted to be in the know about splorks.

Someone comes along and pitches you on the idea of selling widgets to your splork customers. Only thing, there is no relationship in the world between widgets and splorks. Oh, you could try but it would be hard to convince a judge or jury of the connection.

To appreciate this, consider this little known theory that illustrates relationship and how it can be made, even where it does not exist. The issue is not the relationship. The issue is will it hold up in court. Common sense needs to prevail.

It is called the Dill Pickle Cancer Theory

Studies have shown that 92% of all people who have ever been diagnosed with cancer have eaten dill pickles. The actual mechanism is not known. Is it the cucumber, the pickling process or the dill that has the carcinogenic effect.

But wait, there is more. In Japan, where studies show there is the lowest cancer rates of industrialized nations, they have the lowest dill pickle consumption in the world.

Finally, Eskimos, who never eat dill pickles, never get cancer.

Therefor, as you can see, there is a correlation between dill pickle consumption and cancer. It does not take a very far stretch to see that dill pickles cause cancer.

Do you think this reasoning or logic would hold up in court? There is an association and a strong statistical one at that.

For all the pickle lovers in the world, this is totally fictitious and is only for illustrative purposes. The point is, to avoid being labeled a spammer, the association needs to be real and legitimate.

In this case both you and the entrepreneur could potentially be in trouble. It could even result in your being banned from using your internet providers services.

Your patrons gave over their e-mail so that they could be informed of splork sales, discounts and offerings. They have the expectation that only related information would be sent. If it is not related, it could be a problem. You could be innocently divulging their privacy.

Even worse, should your email list fall into the wrong hands and the entire list ends up in spamville it could cause even bigger problems.

The best way to avoid this is to only send e-mails related to what the person giving the e-mail address is looking for. Never give your list over to anyone else.

This is why when you see joint venture offers, you have the option to opt in to the second offer, giving your e-mail address all over again. This is true even if the offering is similar in nature, topic or connected in some other way.

No doubt, in-spite of the laws, your name has surfaced in spamville. It can take months to get it out if ever. For the very reasons you loathe it, make sure you never spam someone else.

Most of all, keep learning so as to avoid innocently spamming someone else, even if only out of ignorance.