It’s happened to all of us. We meet someone and they hand over the wet fish.

I don’t know about you, but I’m immediately inclined to flee.

Well, now that spammers (and their evil cousin, the PR flak who emails every blogger in a database in order to flog a new product/site) are trying harder than ever to pretend it’s not spam, we’ve got our eyes peeled.

Like the note I received today from Glenn, a flunkie at a VC firm:

Dear SETH,

it began (first clue!)

and in the middle,

…a future investment in Seth Godin.

(the person, not the company?)

The good news is that human beings are really really good at looking for the tiny clues that let us know if they’re legit. The bad news is that spammers are going to get even better at disguising themselves (I admit I get tricked every now and then–I get tricked by handshakes sometimes too).

Just because a marketer can trick someone doesn’t mean she has the right to.