Reddit and email privacy concerns

I don't recall ever consenting to have my email address handed off for promotional use. It seems that today I'm already receiving calls regarding various forums that I have absolutely no intention of advertising at example@gmail.com, which is an account I specifically set up just for this purpose. It isn't as if it's some sort of easily guessable address like firstinitial@gmail.com, firstname@gmail.com, or something generic like user@gmail.com... It feels more like my information was passed directly from Reddit straight into the hands of spammers.

It’s honestly pathetic.

Sorry, I’m not really following you here. Are you saying you're getting these emails sent directly to your Reddit account? And you actually think someone leaked your info? Do you have any actual proof to back that up, or are you just making assumptions at this point? I find it hard to believe someone would go through the trouble of leaking your private data just to flood your inbox with spam.

Edit: Honestly, I get spam messages sent to pretty much every email address I own, even some that I don't even use anymore.

Try setting up a more complex email address, like kesterix24@gmail.com, and you won't have to deal with all that spam.
I actually use a rather convoluted Gmail account myself, and I haven't seen a single piece of spam to date.
Spammers basically just take wild stabs in the dark; if your address is overly simplistic, why wouldn't they target you?
And just so we're clear—if you were worried about privacy—no one on this Reddit thread has shared your registration email with anyone.

The folks over at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are running a tidy little operation here. They’re basically offloading their database of business entities to various marketing agencies. Just a heads-up: be careful which email address you hand over to the chamber.

rapidnomad512 said:The folks over at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are running a smooth operation, selling off business databases to all sorts of marketing agencies. Just a heads up—watch what kind of email address you hand over to the Chamber.

Really? No way the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would touch that. It’s just not legal. If they were actually doing that, then Verizon, AT&T, Duke Energy, HR, USPS, every single bank, and anyone else with access to private info would be doing it too. And we all know that isn't happening. It's illegal. And if it's illegal, people get caught. We all know how many lawsuits there have been for leaking data like that? Zero. None. So, in America, private and business data doesn't just leak out, which makes it pretty easy to conclude that the US is totally safe from that kind of crime.

Yeah, right. Pull the other one.

Well, basically, Reddit doesn't share its users' addresses. Therefore, I suggest we pause here; discussions regarding the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the rest can certainly continue elsewhere.