Study on the Effects of Spam on End Users

An anonymous reader writes "'About a third of people responded to a spam, seeking more information. And 7 percent actually bought a product or service.' Who are these people? Is this really what non-techies do with Spam? They can have my Spam if they want it :-)"

I've yet to meet

[andih8u]

an intelligent person who bought something off a spam. These are the same people who are getting herbal viagra while dreaming of a larger penis while writing up their resignation since they'll get so much money from that nice Nigerian man.

sadly

[2MuchC0ffeeMan]

until these numbers drop, spam will continue to push it's way into our email boxes...

but, there is hope, you can only enlarge your penis so many times.

God damn!

[illuminata]

I've heard of some freaky shit happen to people who eat Spam, but never have I read a report of people responding to it!

What exactly is Spam commanding these people to do? Hopefully it's not commanding people to kill. Hawaii would be a scary place to live, a lot of those people eat Spam.

Crazy Hawaiian motherfuckers eating spam and killing people. Shit, just when you thought you've heard it all...

That's a misreading

[rsidd]

According to the article, "One-third of emailers have pursued an offer in an unsolicited email by clicking on a link to find further information." That is, at some point in their lives. Not the same email.

The blurb reminds me of "Every five seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman is having a baby. Our job is to find that woman, and stop her." Par for slashdot, I suppose.

Article Omission

[Anonymous Coward]

Oxman's 15-year-old son, Robert, says five out of six e-mails he gets daily are spam, often including offers of pornography or dating services. Robert says he simply deletes them.

Robert would neither comment on the delay between when he received the pornographic emails and when he deleted them, nor would he comment on his activities during that time.

Re:with a sample size that small

[alexre1]

Unfortunately, most media companies don't care about the statistical validity of their surveys; they only care about how interesting the survey will seem to their readers. One of the newspapers in my city (Toronto) ran a huge university ranking story last week, based on student reviews. The funny thing was that two of the universities in the top-10 ranking for medical schools didn't actually HAVE medical schools.

Awhell :) What can you do. Aside from complaining on Slashdot, of course.

It's math

[K8Fan]

A few years ago I had a rather nasty realization; as 100 is the mean IQ, that means fully one half of the population has an IQ below 100.

This realization has brought me peace. I'm no longer frustrated at the stupidity of the "average" person...they just can't help it.

Re:sadly

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, i get those emails too. "Enlarge your penis 6 inches!" ... what am i going to do with a 7 inch penis?

(sorry to the comedian i stole this from.)

Increase Your Sample Size By 50% Overnight!

[Anonymous Coward]

No longer do you have to be rediculed because your sample size is too small! With our new, patented system you can increase your sample size GARANTEED! Just click here [slashdot.org] and impress those survey ladies at the mall with your new, bigger sample size!

Re:Whats the big deal about spam...

[Anonymous Coward]

I never hide my email when posting on forums or anywhere online.

Profile for Garak [slashdot.org]

Garak (100517)
(email not shown publicly)

Come again?

Re:It's math

[Steve B]

A few years ago I had a rather nasty realization; as 100 is the mean IQ, that means fully one half of the population has an IQ below 100.

Except in Lake Wobegon.

Re:It's math

[Chris_Jefferson]

*shock* You mean that half of people have an IQ in the bottom half of IQs??

I think you might be in there...

I Answered All My Spam

[GillBates0]

I never know what I might find,
on any day I go online.
I used to get in quite a huff,
while wading through unwanted stuff.
But then I changed the man I am,
the day I answered all my spam.

Now every time I check my box,
I load up on fantastic stocks.
I'll gladly say I felt no loss,
when, with a smile, I fired my boss.
With just one click, the best thing yet,
I freed myself of all my debt.

I have, paying a few small fees,
ten university degrees.
Now that I'm losing all this weight,
I'm sure, someday, I'll get a date.
Instead of going to a show,
I spy on everyone I know.
(That's easy, since I have in hand,
this nifty wireless video cam.)

I spend my evenings viewing screens,
of barely legal horny teens.
And with a little credit charge,
Whoopee! My penis was enlarged!
Meanwhile these shots of Britney Spears
should be enough to last for years.

And so I lead this online life,
my monitor is now my wife.
It has become my greatest dream,
to launch my own get-rich-quick scheme.
And if you think you might get missed,
relax, you're on my e-mail list.

SATIREWIRE'S 2ND ANNUAL POETRY SPAM
2001 FREESTYLE WINNER:
"I Answered All My Spam"
by Alex Silbajoris, Columbus, Ohio
http://www.satirewire.com/features/poetry_sp am/01f ree_winner.shtml

Re:It's math

[lysander]

Or, in tagline form:

"It's people like you that make people like me above average."

:)

Re:It's math

[sco08y]

A few years ago I had a rather nasty realization; as 100 is the mean IQ, that means fully one half of the population has an IQ below 100.

But that doesn't explain where you found 3 people who would moderate that as "Insightful."

Re:that's called a...

[blane.bramble]

Not at all, Tech Support will become a breeze. No emails coming in, and the response to any complaint: "We sent you an email about it, you *have* added our support email address to your whitelist haven't you? Oh you don't know how? We'll email you instructions."

Re:sadly

[drinkypoo]

If that's true, I'd better stop playing with it. One day, it just won't enlarge any more :(

Re:mean and wrong

[moitz]

In Lake Wobegone, "All the children are above average." Maybe they have a lot of terribly stupid adults, so that all the children can be above average. I knew something bothered me about that place.

You mean besides all those good-looking men and really butch women?

-moitz-

Re:Phone Survay !

[Anonymous Coward]

"Sure, I'd like to hear about your vacation timeshares. You don't mind if I masturbate while you give your pitch, do you? You have a real sexy voice. I bet your mouth is pretty."

Telemarketers get nothing but abuse from me.

The only ones who haven't taken me off their list, apparently, are the ones who solicit for the police. Now, I think the police ought to either find a way to support themselves or else get out of the business, but even I can't bring myself to torture their telemarketers.

Some people have told me there's a law of karma, that these people are just doing their shitty job, or that I might sink that low someday.

I want to be part of ENDING the industry, so that when I DO sink that low, I won't have to be faced with that option.

And I don't really give a flying fuck what the person who called me thinks about it. If they came to the door with this garbage, the door would be slammed in their face, hard, if they didn't get the hint that I answered the door with a gun in my hand and a rotweiller growling.

Re:with a sample size that small

[drooling-dog]

They obviously didn't answer the spam offering them a larger sample size...