Quechup stain
Apparently publicly traded dating service company iDate Corporation thinks it's good business practice to con web users into joining their Quechup social network (did I say social network? actually, it's not much more than a community of horny singles looking to hook-up) and unwittingly exposing all of the contacts in their online address books to SPAM invites (that, adding insult to injury, come with an implied endorsement from someone you know and trust.)
What Quechup probably didn't count on was the swift and violent retribution of a small army of web influencers that got suckerpunched over the Labor Day weekend. Cases in point:
CC Chapman: Quechup Just Spammed My Address Book
Pete Cashmore: Are You Getting Quechup Spammed?
Hugh MacLeod: Mea Culpa Quechup.com
Christopher S. Penn: The Q Trustvirus
Matt Dickman: Just Say NO to Quechup
Doug Meacham: Hold the Quechup
Chris Hambly: Quechup and Mass Hysteria
That's just the tip of the iceberg. A quick Google search gives you an idea of how widespead this is -- and why underhanded business practices are not a smart idea (as if they ever were...)
I got scammed too, but at least I can take solace in the fact that I am wildly unpopular and don't have many people in my Gmail address book. But if you happened to have recieved an invite from me, apologies. Crap like this is so embarrassing for everyone involved.
