VicPylon writes "Here is the reason we have to spend time and money on spam filters. This character actually responds to and buys from spam. I wonder if he is aware that he is supporting digital pollution?" I guess this proves that there really is something for everyone online.
RTFA. He treats spam as a store that comes to you in your inbox, and sells some stuff online (via a semi-legit site, and spam). He's not just a spam-victim, he's a spammer, too. He even said he ran a couple of porn sites and squatted a few domain names.
Check out his web site at that domain. He's aI guess The Wall Street Urinal doesn't do research when the interview subject presents himself as a poster boy for the Holy Church of Mercantilism.
He can either spend his money on spam pitches or he can get mugged. I bet the muggers get pretty peeved though when they demand cash and all he has to offer is vitamins, penis enlargement pills and blurbs about time shares.
After Federal income tax, State income tax, City income tax and sales tax, most of that 40k got mugged by his elected officials anyway.
In any case as much as we hate spam at least its better for us that he does this than him doing hard drugs.
DON'T harass this guy. If you do, you're certainly worse than any spammer.
Yes, he's contributing to the spam problem (probably without realizing it), but it's not like he's going around clubbing baby seals. He just has an unhealthy shopping addiction. Calling and harassing people is not going to solve anything. Instead, write an article on "why responding to SPAM is BAD" and get it printed. Do something constructive.
Editors: Please remove the post containing his phone number. This kind of crap is giving Slashdot a bad name.
Reminds me of a spoof spam male enhancement pyramid scheme. You divide your penis into one inch parts and send them off to the people on the list and forward the email on. Within a week you will receive 20feet of penis.
Yeah, it's like many RPG games, you can only have two gloves, two bracers, 10 rings, one headgear, etc... because that's all that will fit on your appendage.
I'll leave the reader to apply that logic to the parent post.
I've thought it would be funny to buy and use each and every penis enlargement product pitched to me via spam for one year, and document the results on a weblog. At the end of that year, I bet my schlong would be enormous.
As long as the economics of spam mean that there's nearly nothing stopping more people from sending it, virtually guaranteeing that the signal/noise ratio of my mailbox will go down for the rest of time, I'm against it. Until that can be fixed (legislatively, technically, whatever), I think most spammers will be hated, independant of whatever they might be selling or whoever might be buying it.
According to the article it takes one buyer out of 15,000 e-mails sent in order to break even. If more people would buy from spam, they'd have to send out fewer e-mails to break even, right?
The scenario I would like to see is spammers simply puting "Advertisement" on the subject line (as per the legislation). They will still get all their repeat buyers and guys like this one, and filtering for those who don't want it will be a breaze. ISP's won't have to do anything anymore, which will remove the incentive for spammers to trick them in some way. And all the cool filter methods like the bayes can turn around and be used to filter ads into categories that they are most interested in (and we can still make fun of them, but it will be light-hearted, because it's not effecting our inboxes anymore:)
There are two problems with this. The first is the percentage of buyers who are not repeat buyers, and who hate spam. It's the person who hates spam, but when he was tricked into looking at the spam that was selling those Iraqi most wanted cards, broke down and got some, and then swore off spam from then on. This wedge of income for spammers is what marketing types are always counting on. The philosophy is: "They don't know they want it yet- they need me to tell them that they want it before they buy it." This isn't a major cache cow for most business people, but it's the wedge of income that marketers, including spammers, spend the most effort on. What could be done to remove this incentive from marketers? Beats me.
The second challenge is Microsoft (though it's not a challenge yet- it could become one). They would much rather be in control of the whole solution- they could have stamps or push their passports or do something like that that would bring in more revenue or cement their hold on the email market etc.- we all know the routine. To their high level corporate strategy, all the spammers simply saying "advertisement" would ruin an excellent opportunity to... extend the empire, so to speak. So, I don't know all the arguments yet, but you can bet they'll be making some in the next year or so that try to defeat the simplest solution.
So the lesson is, as much as I hate to say it, ISP's need to reward spammers who say "Advertisement" on the subject line, IMO. They need to let their spam through into some box for those who want to receive it. I believe you would see a slow, steady trickle of spammers resorting to this, because they would get the best response rates from it.
That's just an attempt to destroy your bayesian filter. See, the spammer knows it will still get tagged as spam but now "justice, remarked, scarecrow, sigh, dangerous,..." are slighly spammy words in your database. If you get a lot of spam then your database will get a very large number of these incorrectly spammy words. Mine is 50MB, and when I was using two word bayesian instead of one-word, it was 200MB.
Now the next time someone sends you an email about scarecrows (which I guess doesn't happen much) your spam filter goes: oh, I know that word, it's a spammy word! I'm sure the spammers know that any spam filter that starts misclassifying legit mail very quickly gets trashed.
Funny thing about spam-filters. I know a doctor and she complained about how all the e-mail about Viagra (sent from colleagues) got lost, she did however get lot's of spam containing the spelling V!@G.RA (or there about).
She and her colleagues now use codewords to describe the drug in e-mail.
The problem I would have with buying *anything* from a spam email is the fact that the company has resorted to spam to pitch their wares. To me, it always smells of desperation and contempt for the customer.
In the current anti-spam climate, a company cannot use spam to market themselves and be seen as a professionally-run organisation.
See this post [google.com] on news.admin.net-abuse.email: Orlando Soto sells spamming tools to desperate webmasters. Funny he didn't mention that to the journalist...
See this post on news.admin.net-abuse.email: Orlando Soto sells spamming tools to desperate webmasters. Funny he didn't mention that to the journalist...
And double funny that the journalist didn't, you know, do some research and figure this out for himself.
Basically, the WSJ has through incompetence (at best) given a spamming scammer some free PR, which said spammer naturally used to tell a ceaseless stream of lies in the hopes of spawning more gullible people to relieve of their money. When was the last time you got spammed to buy a pinball machine, anyway?
Let's take a look at just what Mr. Soto's real connection to spam [dduo.com] is:
In my 20+ years involved with programming and software development, I have never seen a quality collection of software like this made available for sale for such a low price!
And lemme guess, before you became "involved with programming and software development" you were what, a used car salesman?
* Instant Unzip - This small, easy to use program walks you step-by-step through the process of Unzipping a ZIP file you have received. A must have utility!
Wow. Unzip. Truly a must have utility, which is I'm sure why MS built one into their OS.
* HTML Compressor - Compress the size of your HTML files (web pages) so they take up less space, bandwidth and also so they can't be viewed as easily by others.
Hard to tell from the description what this is, but could it be the matching ZIP routine to that fancy-schmancy "unzip" thing they're selling you?
* IP Blocker - Protect yourself against a new type of annoying pop up spam message called IP Ads that can be sent directly to your computer anytime while you are online.
Darn those "IP Ads"!!! Darn them all to heck!!!
* HTML Encryptor - Encrypts your web page so it is unreadable by human eyes trying to view the source code. Has various features to protect page elements from theft.
Awesome. I really must find out how he's managed to develop an encryption algorythm which is already understood by every browser including Netscape 1.1N but which is completely uncrackable by human beings!
[snip pages of equivalent crap that can be yours for the low low price of $24.95]
I'd be amused if I weren't so sure at least one person had bought this crap.
Mr. Soto used to haunt rummage sales, thrift shops and flea markets, but he hurt his back in the mid-1990s, so he turned to the Internet.
That sentence, quoted from the article, describes his entire interest in spam. There are 10 types of people who shop... those who go to flea markets, and those who don't.
Flea markets, rummage sales, garage sales, yard sales, thrift stores, salvation army stores, craft festivals, 4H fairs, county fairs, state fairs... These kinds of activities are like crack cocain to certain types of buyers. My aunt used to make crafts that she would sell at the 4H fairs and craft festivals, and she would take me an my cousins to flea markets and rummage sales.
For those of you who aren't connected, it's a way of life for some people.
And this guy, because he hurt his back, is merely doing the online version....
This was on the front page of WSJ yesterday so I assume they did some fact checking on it. It wasn't buried in the back of the paper.
That said, my first reaction, is one I always have: why when an interesting topic comes up: why do I find only sarcastic/hopefully humorous comments get through my level 4 filter? Still waiting for an answer on that.
I read the article in paper and my reaction was that they did everyone a service by writing about such people. I have no idea why anyone would buy this stuff but the fact of the matter is that spammers wouldn't spam if they didn't make money from it. MS will only change the type of software they make when they don't make money from it. It's a simple, though perhaps unlikeable fact. For every piece of junk that clutters your tv screen, your mailbox or whatever there is a reason for it other than just to bother you (and me!). It's there because someone is making money from it and because someone, like the guy in article, actually buys it.
I don't think educating such buyers is a reasonable option. Sort of like educating the user of one OS to choose to go to another one. This afternoon I'm going to educate my.NET co-workers to move to Java. I don't think so.
But the only way to solve a problem is to understand it. The more we understand people like this guy the more likely it is that someone can find a way to direct spam/bad commercials to them and not the rest of us. Maybe a Do Call Me list.
I personally beleive that this is somewhat clear proof that marketing by e-mail can work, but only if it is taken in hand by honest companies who do not deal through an nigh-on anonymous mass-mailing scheme. Take a look at the statistics, and you will notice 8% of the respondents to a survey conducted asking whether or not they had bought anything through spam replied affirmatively, though spammers say that this number is higher due to the fact that most people having bought products through spam can not bear the embarassment of admitting it. Now if you reflect on those numbers, and consider that a lot of people delete spam as soon as they see some in their inbox, or use some kind of spam filter, you could perhaps come to a conclusion which may not be so far off the truth.
Let's suppose the companies which now sell their products through mass-mailing could come to some sort of agreement with e-mail services. This agreement would involve allowing the user to choose whether or not they would like to receive some offers from the company that has come to the agreement with the service. The e-mail service could choose to impose limits to the company, such as the number of e-mails sent and the products offered in the e-mails. As this feature would be an opt-in option, the user would be responsible for what comes through their inboxes. I think this kind of feature would actually benefit every party involved, as the e-mail service could really control what would be coming through to their users' inboxes, the users would know what to expect in their inboxes, and the companies could actually make more profit from this system. What I mean by this is, as most e-mail users would be expecting to receive their offers by e-mail, they would be the people who would be actually expected to buy what comes through. There would be more sales than there would be complaints and deletion. Last of all, this would of course benefit the people who would like to receive some honest, discounted offers by e-mail. The whole system would be completely legal.
In my opinion, this is how marketing by e-mail could actually be something that works, and that, at the end of the day, leaves both the sales companies, the e-mail services and the e-mail users satisfied.
We live in a society of lowest common denomenators.
We complain about the quality of our television programs ("I'm a TV Star, Get Me Out Of Here!", "Joe Millionaire", etc.), but they stay on the air because Joe Denomenator watches them. He doesn't watch "Babylon 5" or anything that makes him think. (A producer of Andromeda is reported to have left the show because the network wanted less story line and more action. It was "too hard" for Joe Denomenator to follow multi-show stories. Andromeda has been a mashed-potato show ever since.)
Other mass media has followed. In the checkout line we get tabloids shouting "Lose ten pounds in a week without getting off your sorry ass", and "Have better sex with whomever it is you are banging this week". The venerable TV Guide has become TV Gossip instead of a programming guide.
Big box stores filled with cheap imports smother smaller, local stores until they go out of business, leaving nothing but cheap imports available. Joe Denomenator doesn't want to pay $20 for a radio that will last for years, he wants to pay $10 for one that he'll have to replace in a month, because it is too much effort to keep track of the one he has for more than a month anyway.
Why would anyone think that the Internet would be different, after using it became a "right" for Joe Denomenator?
I don't believe this man is an idiot. Instead, it sounds like he is suffering from OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) [webmd.com]. Specifically, it sounds like a form of hoarding [tripod.com] (I hope that link can handle the traffic--Google cache of the main page here [216.239.37.104]), where one simply cannot refuse to buy things that are presented to him or her.
The Internet, and spam, is just providing an unfortunately convenient way for him to acquire these purchases.
The article explains that he used to hunt rummage sales, thift stores, and flea markets, then turned to the Internet after hurting his back. He buys on eBay, and via spam. Spam is just one part of his disease, and it made an interesting story. From the tour his wife gave of their apartment, it sounds like he doesn't need most of the stuff he buys--a typical symptom of hoarding.
Another symptom will be that he is unable to throw away things that he has purchased (like those boxes of vitamins), even if he doesn't need them or they are no longer of value.
OCD medication is usually ineffective for hoarding, but counseling can help.
At any rate, he does not respresent a typical email user, but at the same time, he is not alone. It is unfortunate, but there are people with these kinds of disorders out there, and they play right into the hands of spammers and telemarketers. The sad thing is when people take advantage of them.
The article shows him refusing a number of emails that are presented to him. So, while I tend to agree with you on the hoarding part, I think either it is not to a pathological degree -or it's a different pathology entirely.
thanks for chiming in. perhaps he is just an idiot, perhaps he has a disorder, perhaps he has a disorder AND is an idiot, perhaps neither... well, point is, one can't know this easily, but the question is worthy.
facetiousness aside, a lot of people getting willingly nailed by nigerian scams, penis enlargement pitches, and so may have a variety of things going on that dismissal as an idiot does not address. if we want to reduce the behavior and maybe do a little good for the victim, a harder look is often beneficial, and i mean in our day-to-day lives. that jerk brother-in-law might suffer from depression (which causes anxiety, of a flavor that's like being sawn in half), that tardy employee might be an alcoholic, etc. the point is not to give everyone an excuse, but to target the response to the problem and maybe do some good.
although (ahem) i am enjoying some of the humor here, i hope this guy makes some progress beyond "idiot". granted there are genuine idiots out there (if it's innate do we blame the same as if it is a choice?). i don't mean to medicalize everything, but the ignorance of the "normals" is greater than we realize.
he's a spammer. read the article... He buys items and re-sells them on his "websites"...
This ladies and gentlemen, is a spammer, he is trying to do PR for his "industry" and if he was to be researched a bit further we would see what spam companies he is behind...
The whole article seems a bit phony. Especially the use of the word "anti" by Mr. Soto. There is one group of people who are fond of using the word "anti" to describe those who dislike spam. I get a strong feeling that this is not just some innocent guy that likes to buy from spam, and his admission of spamming once before leaves me even more suspicious.
As the article mentions, he is unfortunately a 45-year old grandfather. Not only has he reproduced already, but his spawn is reproducing quickly. It's too late, the world is doomed.
The Journal started using stippled portraits, or hedcuts in 1979. Apparently, they remind readers of currency or engraved stock certificates. Although the style can be approximated with image filters, the WSJ's hedcuts are hand drawn.
Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
So do I... it's called "Hotmail"
Parent
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
He may be lying, then... (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, there is rule #3: Spammers are STOOPID.
Parent
No, but we do have the author's address. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Informative)
Check out his web site at that domain. He's aI guess The Wall Street Urinal doesn't do research when the interview subject presents himself as a poster boy for the Holy Church of Mercantilism.
Parent
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, that was a good week.
Parent
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
After Federal income tax, State income tax, City income tax and sales tax, most of that 40k got mugged by his elected officials anyway.
In any case as much as we hate spam at least its better for us that he does this than him doing hard drugs.
Parent
The voice of reason. (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, he's contributing to the spam problem (probably without realizing it), but it's not like he's going around clubbing baby seals. He just has an unhealthy shopping addiction. Calling and harassing people is not going to solve anything. Instead, write an article on "why responding to SPAM is BAD" and get it printed. Do something constructive.
Editors: Please remove the post containing his phone number. This kind of crap is giving Slashdot a bad name.
Parent
Really... (Score:5, Funny)
They seem to be the only spam i've been getting lately. Maybe my wife is feeding them my email addresses...
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
You divide your penis into one inch parts and send them off to the people on the list and forward the email on.
Within a week you will receive 20feet of penis.
Parent
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
They'll be receiving unlimited penis!
Parent
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
I'll leave the reader to apply that logic to the parent post.
Parent
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
He prbably doesn't need a belt.
I can't help but wonder how many worms and virii are on his computer, not to mention spyware.
Parent
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Not against SPAM (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not against SPAM (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
We should encourage spam buying (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Not against SPAM (Score:5, Interesting)
There are two problems with this. The first is the percentage of buyers who are not repeat buyers, and who hate spam. It's the person who hates spam, but when he was tricked into looking at the spam that was selling those Iraqi most wanted cards, broke down and got some, and then swore off spam from then on. This wedge of income for spammers is what marketing types are always counting on. The philosophy is: "They don't know they want it yet- they need me to tell them that they want it before they buy it." This isn't a major cache cow for most business people, but it's the wedge of income that marketers, including spammers, spend the most effort on. What could be done to remove this incentive from marketers? Beats me.
The second challenge is Microsoft (though it's not a challenge yet- it could become one). They would much rather be in control of the whole solution- they could have stamps or push their passports or do something like that that would bring in more revenue or cement their hold on the email market etc.- we all know the routine. To their high level corporate strategy, all the spammers simply saying "advertisement" would ruin an excellent opportunity to... extend the empire, so to speak. So, I don't know all the arguments yet, but you can bet they'll be making some in the next year or so that try to defeat the simplest solution.
So the lesson is, as much as I hate to say it, ISP's need to reward spammers who say "Advertisement" on the subject line, IMO. They need to let their spam through into some box for those who want to receive it. I believe you would see a slow, steady trickle of spammers resorting to this, because they would get the best response rates from it.
Parent
Maybe it's true (Score:5, Funny)
Sheeeeesh! (Score:5, Funny)
Did I miss anything? I mean damn, how many different ways can you spell V!@G.RA???!
Re:Sheeeeesh! (Score:5, Funny)
He has the woOrld's la.rG_est Pae.n.is, that is nev@r fflAccid.
He makes $10k woarKING @t homme in his sp.a.re ti_me.
He's seen P.a r is Hi+ltoon nek&kid more than anyone.
His wife's br*ea=sts are la%rg"er.
He has the lowest M.0rt6a6e Re.ate in the w0r1D.
Parent
Re:Sheeeeesh! (Score:5, Insightful)
Now the next time someone sends you an email about scarecrows (which I guess doesn't happen much) your spam filter goes: oh, I know that word, it's a spammy word! I'm sure the spammers know that any spam filter that starts misclassifying legit mail very quickly gets trashed.
Parent
Re:Sheeeeesh! (Score:5, Interesting)
She and her colleagues now use codewords to describe the drug in e-mail.
Parent
Spam and legitimate business do not mix (Score:5, Interesting)
In the current anti-spam climate, a company cannot use spam to market themselves and be seen as a professionally-run organisation.
One (possible) exception... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Hypocrisy? (Score:5, Insightful)
If the guy wants to buy from spammers, let him. We have to fight spam from another angle, not by supressing people's rights to do stupid things.
Sounds fishy (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sounds fishy (Score:5, Funny)
He replied to one of the "Earn $10k a week, at home, in your spare time" spams
Parent
Real vs "Scam" Spam? (Score:5, Interesting)
Orlando Soto is a spammer (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Orlando Soto is a spammer (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Orlando Soto is a spammer (Score:5, Informative)
And double funny that the journalist didn't, you know, do some research and figure this out for himself.
Basically, the WSJ has through incompetence (at best) given a spamming scammer some free PR, which said spammer naturally used to tell a ceaseless stream of lies in the hopes of spawning more gullible people to relieve of their money. When was the last time you got spammed to buy a pinball machine, anyway?
Let's take a look at just what Mr. Soto's real connection to spam [dduo.com] is:
In my 20+ years involved with programming and software development, I have never seen a quality collection of software like this made available for sale for such a low price!
And lemme guess, before you became "involved with programming and software development" you were what, a used car salesman?
* Instant Unzip - This small, easy to use program walks you step-by-step through the process of Unzipping a ZIP file you have received. A must have utility!
Wow. Unzip. Truly a must have utility, which is I'm sure why MS built one into their OS.
* HTML Compressor - Compress the size of your HTML files (web pages) so they take up less space, bandwidth and also so they can't be viewed as easily by others.
Hard to tell from the description what this is, but could it be the matching ZIP routine to that fancy-schmancy "unzip" thing they're selling you?
* IP Blocker - Protect yourself against a new type of annoying pop up spam message called IP Ads that can be sent directly to your computer anytime while you are online.
Darn those "IP Ads"!!! Darn them all to heck!!!
* HTML Encryptor - Encrypts your web page so it is unreadable by human eyes trying to view the source code. Has various features to protect page elements from theft.
Awesome. I really must find out how he's managed to develop an encryption algorythm which is already understood by every browser including Netscape 1.1N but which is completely uncrackable by human beings!
[snip pages of equivalent crap that can be yours for the low low price of $24.95]
I'd be amused if I weren't so sure at least one person had bought this crap.
Parent
Re:Orlando Soto is a spammer (Score:5, Informative)
It's herself
Her name is and her email address are in the article: Mylene Mangalindan mylene.mangalindan@wsj.com [mailto].
Parent
Flea Markets, Rummage Sales, 4H (Score:5, Insightful)
That sentence, quoted from the article, describes his entire interest in spam. There are 10 types of people who shop... those who go to flea markets, and those who don't.
Flea markets, rummage sales, garage sales, yard sales, thrift stores, salvation army stores, craft festivals, 4H fairs, county fairs, state fairs
For those of you who aren't connected, it's a way of life for some people.
And this guy, because he hurt his back, is merely doing the online version....
Rats (Score:5, Funny)
Why are highly rated comments always sarcastic? (Score:5, Interesting)
That said, my first reaction, is one I always have: why when an interesting topic comes up: why do I find only sarcastic/hopefully humorous comments get through my level 4 filter? Still waiting for an answer on that.
I read the article in paper and my reaction was that they did everyone a service by writing about such people. I have no idea why anyone would buy this stuff but the fact of the matter is that spammers wouldn't spam if they didn't make money from it. MS will only change the type of software they make when they don't make money from it. It's a simple, though perhaps unlikeable fact. For every piece of junk that clutters your tv screen, your mailbox or whatever there is a reason for it other than just to bother you (and me!). It's there because someone is making money from it and because someone, like the guy in article, actually buys it.
I don't think educating such buyers is a reasonable option. Sort of like educating the user of one OS to choose to go to another one. This afternoon I'm going to educate my
But the only way to solve a problem is to understand it. The more we understand people like this guy the more likely it is that someone can find a way to direct spam/bad commercials to them and not the rest of us. Maybe a Do Call Me list.
What I don't understand... (Score:5, Insightful)
And if there's really people like Mr. Soto, what's the problem with actually having opt-in?
E-mail marketing (Score:5, Interesting)
I personally beleive that this is somewhat clear proof that marketing by e-mail can work, but only if it is taken in hand by honest companies who do not deal through an nigh-on anonymous mass-mailing scheme. Take a look at the statistics, and you will notice 8% of the respondents to a survey conducted asking whether or not they had bought anything through spam replied affirmatively, though spammers say that this number is higher due to the fact that most people having bought products through spam can not bear the embarassment of admitting it. Now if you reflect on those numbers, and consider that a lot of people delete spam as soon as they see some in their inbox, or use some kind of spam filter, you could perhaps come to a conclusion which may not be so far off the truth.
Let's suppose the companies which now sell their products through mass-mailing could come to some sort of agreement with e-mail services. This agreement would involve allowing the user to choose whether or not they would like to receive some offers from the company that has come to the agreement with the service. The e-mail service could choose to impose limits to the company, such as the number of e-mails sent and the products offered in the e-mails. As this feature would be an opt-in option, the user would be responsible for what comes through their inboxes. I think this kind of feature would actually benefit every party involved, as the e-mail service could really control what would be coming through to their users' inboxes, the users would know what to expect in their inboxes, and the companies could actually make more profit from this system. What I mean by this is, as most e-mail users would be expecting to receive their offers by e-mail, they would be the people who would be actually expected to buy what comes through. There would be more sales than there would be complaints and deletion. Last of all, this would of course benefit the people who would like to receive some honest, discounted offers by e-mail. The whole system would be completely legal.
In my opinion, this is how marketing by e-mail could actually be something that works, and that, at the end of the day, leaves both the sales companies, the e-mail services and the e-mail users satisfied.
Common Denominators (Score:5, Insightful)
We complain about the quality of our television programs ("I'm a TV Star, Get Me Out Of Here!", "Joe Millionaire", etc.), but they stay on the air because Joe Denomenator watches them. He doesn't watch "Babylon 5" or anything that makes him think. (A producer of Andromeda is reported to have left the show because the network wanted less story line and more action. It was "too hard" for Joe Denomenator to follow multi-show stories. Andromeda has been a mashed-potato show ever since.)
Other mass media has followed. In the checkout line we get tabloids shouting "Lose ten pounds in a week without getting off your sorry ass", and "Have better sex with whomever it is you are banging this week". The venerable TV Guide has become TV Gossip instead of a programming guide.
Big box stores filled with cheap imports smother smaller, local stores until they go out of business, leaving nothing but cheap imports available. Joe Denomenator doesn't want to pay $20 for a radio that will last for years, he wants to pay $10 for one that he'll have to replace in a month, because it is too much effort to keep track of the one he has for more than a month anyway.
Why would anyone think that the Internet would be different, after using it became a "right" for Joe Denomenator?
Don't be so hard on this man (Score:5, Interesting)
The Internet, and spam, is just providing an unfortunately convenient way for him to acquire these purchases.
The article explains that he used to hunt rummage sales, thift stores, and flea markets, then turned to the Internet after hurting his back. He buys on eBay, and via spam. Spam is just one part of his disease, and it made an interesting story. From the tour his wife gave of their apartment, it sounds like he doesn't need most of the stuff he buys--a typical symptom of hoarding.
Another symptom will be that he is unable to throw away things that he has purchased (like those boxes of vitamins), even if he doesn't need them or they are no longer of value.
OCD medication is usually ineffective for hoarding, but counseling can help.
At any rate, he does not respresent a typical email user, but at the same time, he is not alone. It is unfortunate, but there are people with these kinds of disorders out there, and they play right into the hands of spammers and telemarketers. The sad thing is when people take advantage of them.
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The problem with that theory is (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Don't be so hard on this man (Score:5, Insightful)
facetiousness aside, a lot of people getting willingly nailed by nigerian scams, penis enlargement pitches, and so may have a variety of things going on that dismissal as an idiot does not address. if we want to reduce the behavior and maybe do a little good for the victim, a harder look is often beneficial, and i mean in our day-to-day lives. that jerk brother-in-law might suffer from depression (which causes anxiety, of a flavor that's like being sawn in half), that tardy employee might be an alcoholic, etc. the point is not to give everyone an excuse, but to target the response to the problem and maybe do some good.
although (ahem) i am enjoying some of the humor here, i hope this guy makes some progress beyond "idiot". granted there are genuine idiots out there (if it's innate do we blame the same as if it is a choice?). i don't mean to medicalize everything, but the ignorance of the "normals" is greater than we realize.
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Re:Just Goes To Show... (Score:5, Interesting)
he's a spammer. read the article... He buys items and re-sells them on his "websites"...
This ladies and gentlemen, is a spammer, he is trying to do PR for his "industry" and if he was to be researched a bit further we would see what spam companies he is behind...
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Re:Just Goes To Show... (Score:5, Funny)
no the guy is not an idiot...
he's a spammer.
*throat clearing noise*
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Re:Doesn't this seem like a put-on? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:oh boy... (Score:5, Funny)
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Stipples. (Score:5, Informative)
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