Sometimes It Doesn’t Matter If It’s Spam Or Not

I get probably the usual number of spam emails. I also get probably the usual number of emails from entities that aren’t spam but aren’t contacting me about something I want to hear about. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if it’s spam or not.

For example: I get a number of emails that my financial account has been suspended due to unauthorized log in attempts and I need to “click here” to reactivate. I usually don’t even have to look at the sender to see they aren’t who they claim to be, or to hover over the link to see that it isn’t what they claim it is. I also usually don’t need to be smart enough to know that real financial service companies don’t have you do that and would instead request that you contact them separately. I usually don’t need to do any of this because most commonly I’m sent these “from” financial institutions I’ve never even heard of. Pretty sure I don’t have accounts with them (though yes, when checked the emails are from garbage addresses and the links are garbage links).

However, I’ve recently been getting horrified emails from Dropbox. Apparently I haven’t used my account in a while and they’re going to shut it off if I don’t do something. Oh no!

Yeah, I had to sign up for an account to get pictures from a photographer I was collaborating with on a story years ago. This was the one and only time I’ve ever used Dropbox. I honestly don’t care. They can go ahead and close the account. I don’t need it.

Their email is pretty much like spam even though it’s technically not. It’s functionally equivalent.