I’d put it this way.  It’s a transactional matter and little else.  Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.  It is my supposition and philosophy that the best interactive marketing is a relationship and a conversation.  Listen, respond, improve, grow.  Business is sustainable, get rich quick schemes are not.

Within a couple of days, I’ve seen two more comments on this in various forms within my industry.  First Dave Evans posts about Comment Cowards, and then Marcus Frind commented on my personal blog about a bot which targets his userbase with spam. It’s pretty clear that there is no compunction about using these poor “marketing” tactics.

This matters very much for mainstream marketers because it adds noise to an already cluttered landscape of messages.  Legitimate comments add to the discussion and build community.  Spam erodes it and tears it down.  There’s an ethic to online marketing that’s very important.  The Internet isn’t anonymous.  Assume that your tactic will be on the front page of google search results with your name tied to it.  If you wouldn’t or can’t defend it, don’t do it.  It might seem cheap, but it won’t be in the long run.  It can get viral in a negative way.