Link validator? (Desktop preferred)

Kurt, And I refuse to support the developers of spamware.

It's not uncommon to ignore the fact that spammers need a lot of the same info that legitimate marketers need. That gives rise to the rationalization that it's just a tool, so it's okay.

I contend, however, that by supporting the tool with those features included, you are encouraging its continued development and sale, which perpetuates the abuse it's so often used for.

I recently suspended 3 separate WSOs because they included features that actively encouraged spamming. They scraped email addresses and automatically mailed the owners of those addresses. Each of the sellers had to change their copy and software in order to get the offers re-instated.

Each of the tools were hugely useful without the spamming capabilities. Guess which features the majority of people here would have used the most?

I'm sorry, but I LIKE being able to use LinkedIn without getting bombarded by garbage because of it. I LIKE the fact that, other than a few untargeted invites, I can use Facebook without being hammered by idiots who haven't enough clue to know that sending me MLM spam isn't a productive use of anyone's time.

I see, every day, the damage that a small handful of scumbags can do when they get their hands on tools for the automated sending of unsolicited marketing messages. Sure, some tools are neutral in use, and I go along with the "It's just a tool" argument for those. But anything that has any features designed specifically for spamming?

If you support those tools, you're supporting their abuse. Even if you never participate actively in that abuse yourself.

It's like the difference between guns and guns with silencers. There are lots of legitimate uses for guns. Silencers are not, however, something a legitimate civilian gun owner should ever need.


Paul

Not quite. I ignored it, as it didn't apply. That's not quite what I said. I said you were supporting the developers of spamware, which encourages them to continue to produce and distribute software that is used for spamming.

Close, but not the same thing.

I honestly don't care what percentage of the feature list the spamming options comprise. I see the damage that stuff does. And honestly, if it were really all that small a subset of the feature list in terms of usage, why is it such a big chunk of the sales copy?

That product was created for the express purpose of spamming. Can't speak for anywhere else in the world, but I don't believe you can put a silencer on a shotgun, and I don't think you can legally use anything else for duck hunting in PA. Mind you, I haven't hunted with a gun in a longish time, so the rules may have changed but... I kind of doubt that one's any different now. Unless they're just incredibly sloppy in their product description, and mean it can be used to de-dupe an email list, it does.

ScrapeBox – Harvest, Check, Ping, Post

Under URL Collection and List Management. Note the "Grab Emails" function. Doesn't look like a de-duping thing to me.

Either way, it's used for spamming blogs, and my thoughts on that aren't likely to change any time soon. It's a destructive practice which, in my opinion, should carry some sort of civil or criminal penalty.


Paul