[ChrisMarshallNY]

I’m not especially bothered by this [yet -AI is likely to make this worse]. It’s a fairly insignificant component of my spam catcher. At least, it’s a bit focused.

Every day, I get deluged with hundreds of spam and scam emails, often because some knucklehead entered my email in a form (either accidentally, or as a throwaway red herring).

[Maxious]

Sure but these YC spammers are identifiable and have much more to lose https://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/

> Some examples of ethical behavior we expect from founders are:

> - Not spamming members of the community

> To maintain our community, if we determine (in our sole discretion) that a founder has behaved unethically during or after YC, we will revoke their YC founder status. This includes access to all Y Combinator spaces, software, lists and events. All founders in a company may be held responsible for the unethical actions of a single co-founder or a company employee, depending on the circumstances.

[RobotToaster]

Has this ever actually been enforced?

[ChrisMarshallNY]

> > - Not spamming members of the community

Ah... but there's the rub.

Define "the community."

Do random GH accounts count as "members of the YC community"?

Sorry, but unsolicited contact, much as I hates, HATESSSS it, is a classic component of any business, and has been, for many decades. I don't think it would be appropriate for a business organization to prohibit its members from engaging in "cold calling," of which, UCE is really an example.

Using the YC branding/name, however, is a different matter.