The single biggest complaint system administrators hear these days is about how much unsolicited email reaches user inboxes. Definitely the number one complaint I hear at school. Well, that and “I want faster Internets.”

From stock pump and dump tips, to come ons for penis and breast enhancement, some yutz somewhere has something useless to pawn on an unsuspecting public and figures the best way to reach them is through electronic messaging The sheer volume makes one want to never open their email program. Yet people keep opening Outlook, Lotus Notes and Gmail, hourly, twice hourly, at times checking every few minutes. They dive into their inbox compulsively, knowing full well odds are good the only thing waiting is a long stream of steaming crap.

We like our email, I guess. Or more precisely, we like getting email.

But I suspect that deep down many people also secretly like spam–and simultaneously revile it–because it gives them something to complain about. Whining is the national pastime; that and speculating on whether OJ did it and if he did it, when he going down for it.

And after all, usually spam is addressed to us. To think some bot in China took a microsecond to send a message about Cialis.

You’re feeling the love, right?