optin email

No, because there is an opt-out on the e-mails that they send, usually at the bottom of the e-mail. This is the way to build your downline. Ever marketer uses this to get your email addy. Most do not let you download until they verify the addy. Then the download url is sent to this addy, so if you use a fake e-mail you can't get to the download page. The guru's have been doing this for years. And I was taught to do the same. Some time you miss out on some very good software by refusing to leave a real e-mail addy.

For downloads I usually give fake email addresses. If they really have to have a verifiable one, I have a throwaway hotmail account I use just for downloads and things that I never check unless I need to get a verify email for a download.

It depends on what it is - if it's something I think will be beneficial to me then yes I'll opt-in - you can always unsubscribe after you have your download. While for the most part it's the way people build their lists, with spam laws being what they are by making it opt-in, double opt-in etc the people sending the emails/download links etc are covering themselves when it comes to spam. Though your right, unfortunately there's a few people (and some of them are very well known names) that in my mind almost abuse the system and send you emails daily - Those people I don't even bother giving my email to no matter how good their offer is :-)

Though it's very risky to give our email address I think we have some benefits too from opt-in email. Sure we always receive many junk mails that annoy us but I some times receive emails that offer free e-book that might useful for me.

I agree with you that I do not take advantage of some offers because of forced optins. I'd like to be given a choice.

It depends on the site and the offer. However, I use an alias email for all sites requesting an email. This way, if the spam gets out of control, I can always choose to shut the alias email down, without losing everything in my main acct. Yet, I have used the same email alias for many many years and yes it gets bombarded with spam. Sometimes more than a hundred a day :O but I'd rather it go there then to my main account.

I feel it's a fair trade, IMO. They give me some free software and then I read their mails...unless I find absolutely nothing of use to me in their first couple of mails, then I unsubscribe from the list.