whoosh

[yendi]

Yeah, another one of those days. Pretty much assume (until I say otherwise) that I'm not reading LJ with any regularity, and I only catch a random 25 entries at odd moments. That'll probably continue through the middle of next week.

But I did want to bitch about the latest piece of spam, with the following subject line: im no normal ho.. im a ho down on the farm

At this point, I think it's safe to say that spammers are no longer appealing to "traditional" fetishes (the farmgirl), or even the traditionally taboo (bestiality). There's clearly a new fetish that's sweeping the nation: Bad grammar. There are folks who are turned on by missing apostrophes, gratuitous apostrophes, poor capitalization, spelling errors, and mangled syntax. And they're apparently keeping spammers happy.

And although it's not spam (since I opted in), the New York Jets sent me the following:

Jets Academy is the only team-sponsored after school program in professional sports providing everyday after-school programs to the children of the East Village Community School in Manhattan and P.S. 306 in East New York.

Gee. Given the ratio of schools to professional sports teams in New York, I'm so surprised that the Jets run the only team-sponsored program for these two specific schools. Next, they'll send out a newsletter announcing that they're the only New York NFL team to play home games at the Meadowlands other than any team named "The Giants."

Gah. Must finish work (this post has taken over an hour, given all the work interruptions). I'm so glad we're not on the quarter system.

Comments

[iresprite.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, I got a spam whose subject was "moron".

At this point, I'm not even sure if they care whether I pay attention anymore.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

The mangling and misspelling is there to try to avoid spam detection software. They alter the subject line every so many e-mails to avoid automated detections, because ISPs will do comparisons based on the subject lines. I think they may have to do it in the bodies now too, but I don't know, I'm behind the times.

[yendi]

Oh, I know why it's done, but I wonder what the point is -- any spam workaround that so clearly identifies itself as a message to be avoided and deleted unread seems pointless.

btw, have you played Puerto Rico? jet_li_wannabe finally got it, and we played it last Sunday. It's up there with Tigris and Euphrates.

[yendi]

Oh, I know why it's done, but I wonder what the point is -- any spam workaround that so clearly identifies itself as a message to be avoided and deleted unread seems pointless.

btw, have you played Puerto Rico? jet_li_wannabe finally got it, and we played it last Sunday. It's up there with Tigris and Euphrates.

[yendi]

Oh, I know why it's done, but I wonder what the point is -- any spam workaround that so clearly identifies itself as a message to be avoided and deleted unread seems pointless.

btw, have you played Puerto Rico? jet_li_wannabe finally got it, and we played it last Sunday. It's up there with Tigris and Euphrates.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

There's a tiny fraction of the population that is willing to send their life savings to a random stranger who calls them on the phone with the investment opportunity of a lifetime. The goal of spammers is to get their con in front of as many eyeballs as possible. If ten thousand people like you and I delete the spam unread, and one person reads it, that just means they have to send out tenthousand spams for one good mark. The other thing is, most spammers are just morons who bought a list and some software from a better con artist. They don't know that you and I are going to delete it. They honestly think that they are going to hit the big time on this mass marketing thing, if they just hit the right combination of spam software, good lists, a hot MLM scheme, and the right incantations and lucky stuff. To them, people like you and I are just anti-business anarchists who want to shut down the internet and kill their dreams. You should read their message boards. They are scary. The best part, they have big problems with spammers.

[zerbie.livejournal.com]

I like the fact that it's the only after-school program to provide everyday after-school programs. I wonder if they maybe provide after-school programs?

[ocean-song.livejournal.com]

so'if I post randomlllly and uze bad grammer, will u replie moore?