Untitled Document ARGH!
I wll never understand why spam still exists, the internet reaching the
level of development and maturity is has. I can't imagine that there's
ANYONE left anymore dumb and/or internet-inexperienced to purchase anything
advertised through spam. Even if there is, I don't understand why spammers
woud target newsgroups for Tcl, Python, and Perl... technologies most often
used by crusty old-timers LEAST likely of all to be an effective target
audience...
On Sat, 17 Feb 2001 17:46:47 -0500, "Steve D. Perkins"
<·············@NOSPAM.hotmail.com> drooled an embarassing wet spot in
his lap as he typed:
>Untitled Document ARGH!
>
> I wll never understand why spam still exists, the internet reaching the
>level of development and maturity is has. I can't imagine that there's
>ANYONE left anymore dumb and/or internet-inexperienced to purchase anything
>advertised through spam. Even if there is, I don't understand why spammers
>woud target newsgroups for Tcl, Python, and Perl... technologies most often
>used by crusty old-timers LEAST likely of all to be an effective target
>audience...
Blame spambots. They retrieve all available newsgroups on the
spammer's ISP, then post their crap to every single one of them.
Fortunately many ISPs have gotten wise and have placed posting caps on
duplicate messages, but spambots have found ways to circumvent that --
by placing a random number after the subject line, by rotating the
subject line from a list of subject lines, by placing random ASCII
text at the end of each message, etc. so the server doesn't think it's
a duplicate message. It's really quite a loathesome little business,
and I've never figured out why people are still stupid enough to think
that it works, but I guess they still abide by the old motto, "There's
no such thing as bad publicity."
Ah, but there is if you lose your ISP for violating their TOS/AUP.
And there are plenty of people -- me, for instance -- who are
perfectly happy to send a nice note to their ISP's abuse department.
:)
--
Almost there...
"Ignorance breeds confidence more often than does knowledge." -Darwin
The Emulation Newbie FAQ: http://www.emulationnet.com/emufaq.html
Remove the badgers before E-Mailing.
On Sun, 18 Feb 2001 03:27:19 GMT, Mindfield
<·········@badgers.emulationnet.com> wrote in comp.lang.python in article
<··································@4ax.com>:
:It's really quite a loathesome little business,
:and I've never figured out why people are still stupid enough to think
:that it works, but I guess they still abide by the old motto, "There's
:no such thing as bad publicity."
It costs them next to nothing, and they must end up selling some of their
product or generating some revenue from the spam. If they didn't, the spamming
would decrease, but instead it is on the increase. Some people are stupid
enough to buy from spammers.
:Ah, but there is if you lose your ISP for violating their TOS/AUP.
:And there are plenty of people -- me, for instance -- who are
:perfectly happy to send a nice note to their ISP's abuse department.
Me, too.
--
Sheila King
http://www.thinkspot.net/sheila/
http://www.k12groups.org/
"Mindfield" <·········@badgers.emulationnet.com> wrote in message
·······································@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 17 Feb 2001 17:46:47 -0500, "Steve D. Perkins"
> <·············@NOSPAM.hotmail.com> drooled an embarassing wet spot in
> his lap as he typed:
>
[snip]
>
> Fortunately many ISPs have gotten wise and have placed posting caps on
> duplicate messages, but spambots have found ways to circumvent that --
> by placing a random number after the subject line, by rotating the
> subject line from a list of subject lines, by placing random ASCII
> text at the end of each message, etc.
I have always wondered why spam had those extra characters at the end of the
subject lines and messages. Thanks! You've answered one of my 10 most
sought after questions!
FrankM
"Steve D. Perkins" <·············@NOSPAM.hotmail.com> wrote in message
················@news2.newsguy.com...
> Untitled Document ARGH!
>
> I wll never understand why spam still exists, the internet reaching
the
> level of development and maturity is has. I can't imagine that there's
> ANYONE left anymore dumb and/or internet-inexperienced to purchase
anything
> advertised through spam. Even if there is, I don't understand why
spammers
> woud target newsgroups for Tcl, Python, and Perl... technologies most
often
> used by crusty old-timers LEAST likely of all to be an effective target
> audience...
>
>
there will always be dumb people
And so it came to pass that "Dave Brondsema" <········@my-deja.com>
on 18 Feb 2001 wrote <······················@news1.rdc1.mi.home.com>:
[snip woes of spam]
>
>there will always be dumb people
>
>
P.T.Barnum had this figured out quite some time ago :-)
--
Csaba Raduly, Software Developer (OS/2), Sophos Anti-Virus
···················@sophos.com http://www.sophos.com/
US Support +1 888 SOPHOS 9 UK Support +44 1235 559933
You are in a maze of twisted little minds, all different.