Deliverance

Will someone please explain to me why the whole Goodmail thing, whereby non-Spammy emailers can pay to be escorted directly to their customers’ (or donors’) email in-boxes is a bad thing?

I get way more Spam than real email in my Yahoo account, rendering it almost useless.  The rise of phishing has led donors to distrust email appeals.  Even a Shakespeare sonnet might fail to stand out in the avalanche of crap that rains into my in-box.

Predictably and happily, the Goodmail endorsers now say they’ll provide the VIP escort to non-profit emailers for free.  That’s a good thing.  Some of my colleagues are still opposing goodmail on ideological grounds.  I respect them and their views, but it comes down to this:

Is email a communications tool or is it a philosophy?