Many early AllAdvantage users attempted to utilize spamming techniques to artificially build up their referral numbers. In the first months following the company's launch, email service providers and anti-spam services identified emails referencing AllAdvantage as spam, resulting in widespread blocking. Shortly after hiring anti-spam expert Ray Everett as the company's Chief Privacy Officer, the company implemented significant changes in its affiliate promotion and referral policies, including a system to enable quicker reporting and termination of spamming accounts. By 2000, the reported volumes of AllAdvantage-related spam had reduced significantly.