[zachruss92]

This is a free “course” in the author’s platform. He has paid courses that he occasionally sends emails about when he has promotions. I’m quite stringent about what I unsubscribe to and his emails have not come even close to that threshold.

Imo the challenges are well thought out as are the solutions. I feel giving my e-mail up is a good exchange of value. I’ll probably end up buying one of his courses eventually.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

So that is spam; it's nice that it's low-impact and not too awful, but can you understand why I might be a bit put out at someone saying "I won't spam you" and then sending unsolicited marketing emails?

[joncalhoun]

In my head I was thinking of a definition like the one below when I wrote that:

"Spam is irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of recipients." - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7048231

When people sign up for Gophercises, the first two emails I send them are about the course asking how the course is going, if they had issues with the player, etc.

After that they get Go related emails. Eg https://ckarchive.com/b/0vuwh9hvx32q Again, not really irrelevant given the interest in learning Go, and 99% of the people I talk to love those emails.

Maybe 3-4x per year I'll have a sale on my other paid courses. During those times people who have been on my mailing list for a set period of time (I think it is at least 10 days and have received at least 2 previous emails from me without unsubscribing, but I'd need to double check) will get a notice about the sale. I try to avoid being super annoying with those, so they will often contain useful lessons about coding with Go even if you aren't interested in the sale.

I make my living selling Go courses. I was only able to create and offer Gophercises as a free course because of this, so yes, I require an email address and I use Gophercises as a marketing tool. I try to make it a decent experience, but no matter what I do someone will always complain. I find my time is better spent helping the people who enjoy and appreciate what I am doing.

[chrisdave]

It's generally accepted (at least by those who allow google to shape their worldview, which is pretty much everyone except maybe you) that there is a difference in degree if not in kind between spam and promotional emails.

[babarock]

Count me as a 2nd person who doesn't see the difference between spam and promotional emails. Any unsolicited email that is detailing product offers and prices is spam.

I am not sure what google-shaped worldview has to do with anything. Maybe I don't understand your comment at all.

[TastyJhinga]

Anything unsolicited is spam irrespective of how good or useful the content is. The website says "I won't spam you", so I kinda assume that my email is only used for notifications.

[zachruss92]

I understand your view. It is probably more correct to say “you’ll receive occasional marketing emails from me”.

My view is mostly from the “there is no such thing as a free lunch” perspective. If I see an exchange of value it’s fair to me. I can always unsubscribe or not buy what he’s selling.

Personally I just can’t fault him for trying to make a living.