My Employer is making me violate my SPAM morals

Train

Lifer
Jun 22, 2000
13,861
68
91
www.bing.com
My boss is making me write asp scripts to pull email addresses off certain websites to use for spamming, my scripts are dumping these emails into a DB, next hes going to have me write an email script to send out the emails, he wants to send 10,000 in the first weekend his new site goes live, so far my scripts have soaked up 3,000 unique emails in the first day, and he wants to let it run as long as possible.

This is the first job ive had since i was laid off over 2 months ago, but the boss here is suck, but i need the money, but they are making me work horrible hours and are on my case all the time, im about to snap becuase the guy (who by the way has NO IDEA how programming or e-commerce really works) is pressuring me to do a weeks work in a day and is constantly over my shoulder telling me every little step, or asking questions or just bitching because im not done yet.

What would you do in my situation?

(last night i visited Monster.com again and applied for about 15 more jobs im qualified for, this time i checked the box "Willing to relocate")
 

damocles

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,105
5
81
Your boss is the kind of git i loathe most. Look for a new job that doesn't make people like me dream of hunting you down with a large stick
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
Ah it sucks. I feel your pain. I'd work almost anywhere right now...I suppose maybe you should just relocate. Hang in this job until you get work again though. It sucks but you have money & experience.
 

perry

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2000
4,018
1
0
Just don't pull email addresses off the forums and it don't matter. I've seen webpages that have spam traps. They'll have like 100 - 200 fake email addresses linked off to another set of pages with another pages each w/ 100 - 200 addresses. I got bored after that, didn't pay attention to how deep they went.

Someone's gotta write those spam scripts, sucks that it's you though.

I've taken my email address off my webpage and use a little form instead. I got tired of companies finding my site in search engines and sending me spam offering to get me more search engine hits, or a dozen different credit cards, etc etc.
 

Optimus

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2000
3,618
0
0
I'd work at Best Buy while I found a better job before I'd do that... sorry.
 

Azraele

Elite Member
Nov 5, 2000
16,524
29
91
It sounds like you're in a horrible job, and were I you, I would get out asap. Any job that asks you to violate your morals in not a healthy one.

However, you must weigh your needs. Can you survive without this job until you find another one? If so, for how long? If not, what then?

Think hard on your options. Definately leave the job when you can safely do so. It will do you no good to quit, only to be unable to pay the bills, hence the key word, safely.


Hopefully, you'll be able to find another, better job fairly quickly.

Good luck to you.
 

xaigi

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,235
0
0
Tell your boss that he could be liable for over $50 per address (10,000 addresses x $50 = $50,000) spammed. He could also lose whatever internet connection he uses, be fined by his ISP and have his IP address(es) banned from thousands of mail servers (he wont even be able to send regular email).


(and start using spamhole.com)
 

Jal

Senior member
Mar 22, 2000
452
0
0
Put the bosses Email addy in the CC: field.. That should stop things for a bit :)