I've just been spammed by two i-ad industry players.

The first Primedia, is one of the biggest publishers on this planet (yeah they own About.com and a zillion special interest mags). They spammed me to find out if I'd like to opt-in to get their new email newsletter that promotes their mailing list rentals. The wording was unclear -- they said, "Please subscribe" but they also said, "To get off this list...." which implies I'm stuck on it until I opt-out. Yuck.

The second, an email mailing firm called MonsterHut sent me a nice-looking HTML promotion. In fact it was so nicelooking that I almost didn't think it was spam. Except for the fact that their subject line read, "RE: MonsterHut Direct Results..." trying to fool me into thinking they're responding to my email. Not! Also when I skimmed down to find out where they got my email from, it read, " MonsterHut solicits its data from a variety of online sources" which doesn't exactly scream permission marketing.

It's one thing being slimed by el-grosso sex-related spammers, it's another being slimed by folks in your own industy who should SO know WAAAY better. Primedia and MonsterHut are lookin stupid today.

(Can you say "loss of professional credibility"?)