Sponsors - an idea?? maybe??

[RawAlex]

here's the rub:

1 - There is no proof I have seen that people who signup as a result of spam are more or less likely to charge back or cancel

2 - There is no simple way to prove that an affiliate account has been terminated, and for the most part, that termination still leads the traffic to the target site, where sales are made and the affiliate spammer makes no money because they were cancelled>

2a - there is no way to prove that an affiliate isn't in fact the program operator just giving himself a buffer to look good.

3 - spam mail is still very cost effective - it doesn't take much to make it go.

4 - because spam is a fairly dishonest business, most spammers aren't going to complain if they get shaved a bit.

5 - Some program operators run their own spam operations, or contract out to specific spammers to run those operations for them, hidden behind a thin cloth of (2a).

Until there are more prosecutions for fake headers, and until someone finally puts out a replacement for SMTP (the protocol that encourages fake headers) you won't see spam go away.

Alex