Where Has All My Spam Gone? 597
An anonymous reader writes "I have my own domain, which has its own email server, where I receive all my personal email. I've been getting about 800 emails a day, of which perhaps 20 are real. Suddenly, Sunday or Monday evening, the spam pretty much stopped. My volume of mail has plummeted to less than 100 a day, and as far as I can tell, I'm not missing any real mail — I'm still getting the email list subscriptions I'm expecting, and every time I ask someone to send me a test message, it gets through. My domain host insists that it doesn't do any spam filtering before mail gets to my inbox, and that they've changed nothing about their configuration. I run SpamAssassin on my server to mark, but not delete, spam, and download the whole mess to my home client, and I'm still seeing the occasional message tagged by SpamAssassin. But it's virtually all gone. And I haven't changed anything about my own mail configuration, or the harvestability of my site (my personal email has been harvestable for almost a decade). So what's going on? I can't believe that several major botnets would have vanished overnight. Any ideas?"
I'm getting it (Score:5, Funny)
Okay (Score:4, Funny)
And you're complaining because .... ?
Did you install Skynet 1.0? (Score:5, Funny)
Did you install Skynet 1.0?
Hey, what's that siren going off for....
Exactly. (Score:3, Funny)
And you're complaining because .... ?
No kidding. I work as a sysadmin, and as far as I'm concerned, a spam-free day is an occasion to praise my patron demon and bring Him an offering of hookers and blow, not an excuse for an "Ask Slashdot" posting.
Because... (Score:5, Funny)
When spammers took over your box, they didn't want to flood it with their own mail.
Oops... (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, we've been down for maintenance and it's taking a lot longer than we originally planned. You can expect normal service to resume by next monday.
So it's become real... (Score:5, Funny)
Spam Assassin is actually assassinating spam.
On another note, has anyone heard from cousin who is a Nigerian prince? He hasn't called in days and we're beginning to get worried.....
those chinese spam factories are shut down ... (Score:5, Funny)
The Russians are busy in Georgia... (Score:5, Funny)
We Can Test (Score:5, Funny)
We're happy to help you solve this mystery.
What is your email address?
We got bored of the joke (Score:5, Funny)
Okay, here's the thing: nobody but you ever got spam. We all just thought it would be funny to fool you into thinking there was some kind of worldwide scamming epidemic. You don't seriously think people would be stupid enough to buy pills off strangers who email them out of the blue, do you? I thought we'd gone a bit too far and stretched the limits of credibility when we came up with the idea for the Nigerian scams, but I was wrong, you even fell for that! Nobody is stupid enough to send all their money to a "Nigerian prince".
Anyway, enough's enough. The joke's stale now, so we decided to stop sending it all to you.
Spam has relatively few sources (Score:5, Funny)
A large chunk of spam comes from a very small group of spammers. It may just be that you are only targeted by one of them, and he took a break recently.
Hang in there... he'll come back from vacation soon, and you'll be able to mortgage your penis to Nigeria again.
I Stole It (Score:3, Funny)
I'm holding it for ransom. You can have it back for $1,000,000.
Obvious (Score:2, Funny)
I, for one, welcome our spam-eating overlords.
What's your email address? (Score:3, Funny)
I'll forward you some of my spam. Wouldn't want you to feel lonely.
Check (Score:3, Funny)
I'm not sure what's causing your lack of spam. What's your email address?
Oingo Boingo! (Score:4, Funny)
When Slashdot has a real slow news day
Tell me where my spam's gone
When Nigeria no longer needs me
Tell me where my spam's gone
When trojan horse avoid my inbox
Tell me where my spam's gone
When penis pumps cease their pumping
Tell me where my spam's gone
When free porn streaming doesn't bug me
Tell me where my spam's gone
When people install virus checkers
Tell me where my spam's gone
We Apologize (Score:5, Funny)
We humbly apologize for the interruption in service. Please reply with your email address and our technical staff will get back to you.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Okay (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Okay (Score:5, Funny)
Without having the spam to process, the server doesn't run as hot as it's "supposed to". This causes a power imbalance, sending more current to the other servers and tripping breakers. Also, because of the lack of that heat, the server room is too cold. The UPS batteries are not storing enough of a charge as they are less efficient when they're cold. If a power sag, brownout, or blackout happens during one of these spam free moments, well, the results could be catastrophic.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Okay (Score:4, Funny)
I carry mace with me to mark, but not stop, my raper, and I'm still seeing the occasional rapper tagged by mace. But they're virtually all gone.
I see what you did there! Subtle insight of your views concerning the Hip Hop "artist"?
Re:I have it (Score:3, Funny)
No, no, no...
Im in ur mailserverz, eating ur spam!
Post your address (Score:2, Funny)
Black Hat (Score:5, Funny)
They all just got back from Black Hat / Defcon, and they're still hung over.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Yup, and here; still getting 250 a day+ or so.
Maybe they finally clicked that you've already got a huge penis and legendary bedroom performance?
Re:Check (Score:5, Funny)
I find your lack of spam disturbing ...
Pretty normal (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Exactly. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Did you install Skynet 1.0? (Score:3, Funny)
A communications disruption... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Okay (Score:5, Funny)
Mace? Screw maze.
Flurescent green spray paint [choiceful.com] is much better. Not only will you keep your assailant off of you, but you will also make it REALLY easy to pick him out of a line-up later.
Police: "Can you identify the guy who jumped you?"
Victim: "He's the green faced guy, crying on the corner about being blind."
Re:Exactly. (Score:2, Funny)
Oh yes...they try really hard to craft the perfect body text. I'd say they produce some of the best unintelligible ramblings around.
You mean aside from Slashdot readers, right?
Re:Hmm (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:1, Funny)
My home e-mail, bill@billrocks.org, is also getting far less spam now for a couple weeks. It's posted all over the net, so I find that really strange. Maybe they realized I don't need a penal enlargement and don't want to meet women (I'm married)?
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Ok, Agent Mulder, settle down.
Re:Exactly. (Score:2, Funny)
Change is good. Unexpected change is very, very bad.
I can't agree with that AT ALL. When the gasoline prices change, they get higher. It isn't unexpected, but it's BAD.
OTOH if all of a sudden I was for no reason apparent to myself attractive to women to the point that they were fighting over who I would let have sex with me, that would be VERY VERY DOUBLE PLUS GOOD! Worrisome, perhaps, but DAMNED GOOD.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Every single day I get 4 or 5 copies of the "Paypal Dispute Transaction" shit.
Obligatory (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Exactly. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Oh ... so you're address is bill@billrocks.org? Interesting ...
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Not sure if we've exchanged comments before, but I have some genuine replica watches of the finest quality.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Also, visit my Canadian Pharmacy online drugstore to choose from a great selection of products of high quality produced according to the strict pharmaceutical standards.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
is also getting far less spam now for a couple weeks
I think that's about to change.
Re:Exactly. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Funny)
Maybe they finally clicked that you've already got a huge penis and legendary bedroom performance?
If so, could I have your number, southpaw? (A Female slashdotter)
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
You mean the Russian military can't get bandwidth because the spammers are busy using it against Georgia?
This is //Soviet Russia//, after all...
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you for your time.
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
But in Soviet Russia, bandwidth gets you!
Re:Hmm (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
>>Every single day I get 4 or 5 copies of the "Paypal Dispute Transaction" shit.
If you'd just ship me those darn pills I ordered, I wouldn't have to dispute the PayPal transactions!!!
If this is all about the $7.29 shipping fee I still owe you, then just send me your bank account details and I'll send you the money by wire transfer instead. :)
Re:One down (Score:1, Funny)
Good point. So this whole little thread is Off Topic to the original article.
Mods, go to it.
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Are they fake? I got them too.
The subscribe links point to the real CNN sites and they actually gave me no error when I tried to unsubscribe. They kept coming though.
Hugo
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Now there's an intriguing new stereotype!
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
That would be a great movie... old cold war era tanks and soldiers vs. rednecks in pickup trucks with equal firepower...
And a corrupt sheriff in there somewhere...
If it's worth doing, it's worth doing at a profit. (Score:3, Funny)
... independent helpers ... have programs that you can download that do most of the work with minimal hassle.
Hi. I'm a spammer working for the Patriotic Russian effort to defend South Ossetia from the imperialists of Georgia. If you want to help this patriotic effort I have written for you a tool to let you participate in our DDoS attack on Georgia's network. Just click THIS LINK to download the tool, then enter the decryption password to unpack and install it. The password is "ImASucker"
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Maybe they finally clicked that you've already got a huge penis and legendary bedroom performance?
If so, could I have your number, southpaw? (A Female slashdotter)
Don't let yourself be fooled. She's a slashdotter, she wants to know how you stopped the spam.