Friday, April 11, 2008

SPAM!!!


Okay… It’s not funny any more!

I used to think that it was hilarious when my wife, who is pretty much a prude, used to get spammed with solicitations to buy pornography and various “enhancement opportunities”. I would, with great glee, tell her to stay away from the porn sites and she wouldn’t be bothered with all that “smut stuff. I found that it was even more hilarious that her ninety-three your old wheelchair bound mother would get some of the same kind of spam. I secretly thought that I must have been pretty clever to have stayed away from the kind of sites that you might pick-up that kind of electronic venereal disease.

I always thought that I was a pretty broad minded guy, and probably wouldn’t be that bothered with porn showing up on my computer. I thought that I could just say; “Hey, It just showed up, it’s not my fault”, kinda’ like when the biker “Ladies” flash the crowd. It’s a real cheap thrill, and as long as I didn’t in anyway solicit it, I could enjoy it in complete lamb like innocence.

For years I had never received an unwanted e-mail. So, now lightning has stuck me. I now get about thirty to forty spam messages a day. To make matters even worse, I have my e-mail set up so I have to down-load it at home, and at work, before it takes it off the server. So, I get to go through all the spam in both places. At home I have installed a spam filter that removes much of the spam. Unfortunately, it also removed a few messages from people that I wanted to hear from. Now I have to, not only check the incoming box, I also have to check the spam box. That is a loss of ground.

Someone told me that if you ever use your credit card on the internet that the company that you do business with on the net sells your e-dress to the spammers. If I knew that was true, I would submit their company name to the spammers to get even.

I have gotten offers of every kind of fake watch and jewelry that you can imagine. The sad thing is, I might be interested in the REAL stuff. But, I guess that wouldn’t occur to the kind of slime-ball that would send out spam.

I remember in high school that I was in love many times with girls that would not look my way, and the girls that would chase me… for some reason I thought that they weren’t classy enough for me. Ahh… the pain of unrequited love!

Now, I’m being offered love on the internet that I assume is as phony as that Rolex Oyster that they are trying to sell me for ten dollars. And, besides, how would I be able to zip-up my pants if all those adds are true?

So, I guess my question is; how do I get rid of the spam and still keep my e-dress. And how can I get even with the worthless bastards that have spammed me?

I’ve always said “That a grudge worth having is worth holding”.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

ASIS W/POSTINI WORKS GREAT! HAD THEM FOREVER AND LOVE 'EM.... YOU can set your limits & go. sorry 'bout the all caps there...........

Fred Mangels said...

I'd say you're doing pretty good with just 30 or 40 a day. I used to get over 100.

In fact, just last week or the week before, my spam e-mails dropped off significantly. I was waking up in the morning to between 70 to 100 spams. Then I'd get maybe 100 or more throughout the day. Suddenly it dropped to the level you get.

I'm wondering if it had something to do with the guy that was convicted by the feds a couple weeks ago for spamming. He was supposedly responsible for half of all the spam that was being sent out.

About a week after I read of him being convicted, my spam dropped way below what it used to be. Not sure it was necessarily him, but maybe some other major spammer got cold feet after hearing of his colleague's conviction?

I might add that, even before that, I'd cut down some of the spam myself. They say not to respond to spam, even to the unsubscribe notices that are found on some spam e- mails.

A while back I started unsubscribing from some e-mail lists I'd either subscribed to, or been subscribed to by someone else. Some were from legit companies that I'd entered sweepstakes from.

I found one that I wasn't quite sure about. Didn't know if it was really spam but used the unsubscribe link anyway. After unsubscribing I got a message that I'd been unsubscribed from ALL the e-mail lists that company maintained.

I noticed about 30 spam e-mails less a day, as best as I could determine, after that.

That's not usually recommended since some spammers use unsubscribe links just to confirm a valid e-mail address. Try and unsubscribe and they know the e-mail address they're using is being used.

Ernie Branscomb said...

I really wish that there was some way to get even. There must be some way to turn them in or something. It is just totally unfair to have to go through that much junk mail.

I wouldn't mind it if it was info that I asked for, but it isn't.

beachcomber said...

I can't believe anyone actually BUYS in response to those e-mails but I'm assured that they're cheap and lucrative if just a few sales are made. Every once in awhile, I climb upon my high horse and start sending copious amounts of spam to the spammers...and they all come back. Pisses me right off! found links on those corporate sites that actually ASK for the information on spammers pushing their products, presumably so they can stop them but maybe so they can reward them....

Anonymous said...

Ernie, I also use the ASIS Postini filter and it works well. Someone is getting even. Nella at ASIS is suing spammers and winning!