The neologism bacn describes e-mail that’s not quite spam but nonetheless isn’t welcome. (It’s lesser spam, thus its place in the growing cyber-pork family.) Let’s say that somewhere along the way you willingly gave a company or organization your e-mail address, and now they’re sending you crap—bacn—all the time.
For me, the biggest senders of bacn are McAfee and Ticketmaster. As a (reluctant) user of their products and services, I could initially tolerate a certain amount of e-mail. But they’ve tested my patience again and again, and all of it is used up.
So here are my imperfect options: Erase the messages when they come (while cursing their names); hit the ‘Spam’ button, even though, technically, I gave them my address. (This increases the chance that the sender will get into trouble from my internet service provider (ISP) and/or e-mail service—kind of harsh, especially since it was I who offered up my e-mail address; or take the 20 seconds required to unsubscribe from their promotional e-mails.
The thing about the last option is it’s a pain. (OK, a minor one, but still.) What if you want to send a message to Company X that you will tolerate—appreciate even—a few e-mail promotions here and there, once in a while? But you also want to emphasize that you won’t abide a constant deluge of offers and uninteresting newsletters.
Enter the ‘Bacn’ button.
This button will let you send that warning message, that shot across the bow. By labeling an e-mail bacn, you’re saying to Company X, “I realize I willingly gave you my e-mail, but you’re testing my patience, and you can’t continue on your current track.”
Your e-mail provider, Gmail, yahoo, etc., would take note of your bacn reports and, if they got to certain number, would then notify the sender of imminent peril should they keep sending unwanted e-mail.
Good idea?
