It’s bad enough I get spam through my e-mail addresses from the mere fact that my e-mail addresses exist.  Spammers are clever and their bots are numerous.  Spam oozes into the cracks in the edifice.

I am reworking my relationship with Monster.com.  They have proven unworthy of my participation.  I think they once had value as a job site.  Today I get almost nothing but spam through their portal.

For example I get, regularly, offers to become an independent Farmer’s agent.  I wrote to Monster to complain that I was being spammed:

I get these spam messages regularly if my resume is made public on your site. You should have a simple method for reporting spammers and then block those users/e-mail addresses from sending mail to candidates. This is the sender:

Careers@FarmersInsuranceHR.com

FarmersInsuranceHR.com is associated with a company called Agent Rain (agentrain.com) and they are, if you read their advertising propoganda, clearly in the spamming business.

There is nothing about my career history, proclaimed goals, or industry experience which would warrent this “offer”.

Their reply was mildly shocking:

Thank you for taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention. The e mail that you received is from a legitimate Monster client.

If you allow your resume to be searchable at Monster, then all parties with access to our searchable resume database (or copies thereof) will have access to your resume. As long as your resume is ‘Searchable’, employers who use Monster may send you email communication in regards to potential employment opportunities. [sic]

This sounds suspiciously like they encourage spamming of users.  So I further inquired:

I’m sorry, are you saying that a person who is a CEO with all the background and work history to go along with it, that this person is to expect that he or she will get solicitations from companies seeking janitorial services or telephone representatives?

You have no restrictions of any kind for solicitations?

And a company can send the same superfluous solicitation out to as many irrelevant Monster members as they are able?

Do I have that correct?

To which they responded:

If you allow your resume to be searchable on Monster, then all parties with access to our searchable resume database will have access to your resume. As long as your resume is ‘Public’, employers who use Monster may send you email communication in regards to potential employment opportunities. If you no longer wish to receive these offers, we recommend that you reply to their email and request that they block your resume from their search.

Additionally, you may want to block the company from viewing your resume. You can do this by logging into your account and selecting the ‘Resumes’ link on the top left corner of the page. On the next page, select the link titled ‘Privacy Plus’, type in the company you wish to block and click on ‘Get Results’. The company name and also variations of the company name will be displayed. After making your selections, click on ‘Block’.

If, despite your opt-out request, you continue to receive email from the company, please notify us so that we may take the appropriate action. If this circumstance should occur, please provide us with copies of the continued correspondence [sic, emphasis added]

Seriously?  They suggested I write to the spammer and ask them to stop spamming me.  Internet 101 tells the noobiest noob not to write to a spammer.

But their instructions for blocking the spammer are even more absurd.  I can’t simply trace back the sender of the message and block them.  I have to research who that sender may have been and guess that blocking Company X is going to stop spam from E-mail Y.

I believe that I ought to be able to visit their site, locate the message, click on the sender, and block that sender—not merely from sending messages but from accessing my information entirely.

I have also received requests from another job board to use their board instead of Monster (yorksolutions.net)—through the regular Monster channels.  Useless.  What do you guess Monster will do should I write concerning this issue?  Me too.

Further, I have been receiving phone calls from 904-863-0214.  They are calling about my current credit card accounts with an important message.  Problem?  I have no credit card accounts.

A little research reveals that they are a fraudsters (duh!) and that they are getting telephone numbers from Monster’s site.

I have since removed any reference to my telephone number from Monster and my resume.

Caveat surphor.