I always find that when I learn about a new technology or way of doing something online, geeks have already been there (and I say word ‘geek’ with complete affection – I’m one too!). Before business became inseparable from computer, email or internet, academics and tinkerers were there first, kicking tires and playing with technology. Blogging was no exception.

Many of earliest internet geeks wrote online journals detailing interesting links and points of view. As this was before programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver, everything was done by hand - and that was a huge hassle. Each time you updated site, you ran risk of breaking links inside website and leaving your readers stranded with dreaded ‘page not found’ error. Eventually, computer programmers and web designers became fed up with all of this manual work and created their own software to automate process of updating their journal websites. Thus weblog was born.

Yes, I have to admit it -- I Am An Info Junkie. It has become an addiction. I subscribe to dozens of ezines and my browser's bookmark list is huge.

Today, I fired thirteen ezine publishers.

It was hard. I didn't want to let go of those threads to information sources, but they all made same mistake.

Maybe you were one of thirteen.

Maybe it wasn't just a mistake. It is more like a cardinal sin on just plain ignorance.

Your ezine/newsletter didn’t contain any news.

There was not a sentence of content in it. You and other twelve publishers have not provided a lick of content for weeks or even months. I have been hoping that “maybe next issue will be one…”

That next issue that contained content I was hungry for never came. Yes, your ezine was always there right on time. Yes, I even received your bonus editions.

You flooded my RSS reader and my email box with ads.

I realize that we are all in business of trying to make a buck or two and I can accept a couple of ads if I get my info fix. Ads support your ability to provide content and we info junkies of world can tolerate that.

Your cardinal sin was to send ads to me without content.

That, my friend, is spam. That is why I clicked on “unsubscribe me” link and fired you.