I hope that at least occassionally, some of these spammers who
> sincerely bought their lists, etc thinking there was money to be made
> on the internet grow discouraged, and give up their efforts voluntarily
> and find other uses for their computers. Or is that too much to ask?
I still get snail mail advertisements, addressed to the previous owners, even though I've lived here for 10 years.
Advertisers don't clean their mailing lists even when they have to _pay_ real money (printing and postage) for the privilege.