to continue with the analogies....and reply to
alex....

when i'm going to wal-mart during the holiday
season, i find it rude and imposing to have the
salvation army guy standing there ringing the bell.

simply because i park on the wal-mart parking lot,
and/or the intent to use wal-mart for my needs,
does not give the free reign to impose upon me
contradictory values.

i say contradictory because wal-mart is all about
eating up land, robbing the collective capital
from mom and pop stores, treating their customers
rudely, while conveniently posting a person in
the front of their stores seemingly to 'help the
poor'. it is disturbing and crude.

anyways... back to your post....

if i visit a site because i am interested in X,
and i purchase or sign up for X.... does not give
that site the right to exploit my information...
so that others can infiltrate my email inbox with
junk mailers and 'helpful' information.

which is why your PMing is spam, in the general sense.