Junkie Loves His Spam 667
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.
Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Whats his email? (Score:3, Funny)
Hey, the guy only makes 40K a year and lives in Manhattan, he can only afford to send so many dollars to "Happy Guy"
Re:Whats his email? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Whats his email? (Score:3, Informative)
My guess is, like many property managers, his residence is provided (as long as he works for his employer) and living in Manhattan you've got to have more money that that to keep a car, so he and his wife probably use the subways and buses for transport. Take away housing and transportation and you find you don't really need to make a lot to live comfortably on.
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.
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Whats his email? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Whats his email? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Whats his email? (Score:3, Funny)
If I had that good man email I could offer him a very special deal in nigeria, where he could get rich just trasfering some financial funds for the family of the late dictator mobutu sese seko that will be used to build an airport to take refugee kids from an orphanage in serbia... or something like this...
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Informative)
He may be lying, then... (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, there is rule #3: Spammers are STOOPID.
Too bad he was accessing the wrong folder (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
So do I... it's called "Hotmail"
Re:Whats his email? (Score:3, Informative)
You should [ftc.gov] forward all of your spam to uce@ftc.gov [mailto].
No, but we do have the author's address. (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Some choice quotes from the article (Score:3, Funny)
I wonder what kind...
Mr. Soto says he also has bought some adult DVDs and videos via spam, but never got around to marketing them.
cUmc0\/ered h%0t dvdz!!! on1y u5ed 1nce!!! 51ightly 5t1cky.
Re:Whats his email? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, that was a good week.
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.
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.
The email (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
They'll be receiving unlimited penis!
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
I'll leave the reader to apply that logic to the parent post.
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:Really... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Really... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Really... (Score:3, Informative)
-B
Not against SPAM (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not against SPAM (Score:5, Insightful)
We should encourage spam buying (Score:5, Funny)
Re:We should encourage spam buying (Score:3, Insightful)
And if most everyone in the world bought Windows licenses, Microsoft wouldn't need to charge as much for them.....oh wait....everyone DOES buy them, and MS wants to MAKE MONEY.
Hijacked servers, forged headers, and brute force (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Not against SPAM (Score:3, Insightful)
That said, this guy LIKES random stuff coming to him, because he doesn't have to seek it out. I've had a few extra cups of coffee today, so I can almost get my head around this concept.
Maybe it's true (Score:5, Funny)
That Number Again.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:That Number Again.. (Score:3, Interesting)
*sigh* I am all for freedom, and I believe in the purest form of capitalism, and unfortunately spam falls in there. It's just a shame that enough of the population is ignorant to the fact that they are perpetuating a very annoying business model.
oh boy... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:oh boy... (Score:5, Funny)
People fall for crap TV ads (Score:3, Insightful)
You can sell anything to almost anybody.
Re:People fall for crap TV ads (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:People fall for crap TV ads (Score:3, Funny)
Just Goes To Show... (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
The problem with that theory is (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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...
Re:Just Goes To Show... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not joking here. I'm just surprised that his wife puts up with it. He is buying junk that he doesn't use because it makes him feel good to purchase things. That is messed up.
Re:Just Goes To Show... (Score:5, Funny)
no the guy is not an idiot...
he's a spammer.
*throat clearing noise*
I take back... (Score:4, Interesting)
...my comment on the other thread. It seems there really are people out there who value their inbox being filled with mindless junk.
In a survey by MailShell, a San Francisco antispam company, 8% of respondents said they have bought products via spam. Spammers say that percentage is probably low because many people are too embarrassed to admit responding to spam.
Well, there you go. Far higher than I'd ever have imagined...and the spammers admit that replying to spam is embarrassing. Guess they realise a bad thing when they see it.
Although
Mr. Soto recently spent more than $100 on vitamins
you do have to question the man's ability to appreciate the value of a dollar. 100 bucks on vitamins? I'll go down the high street and get three bottles for 10, thank you very much.
Details? (Score:3, Insightful)
Right, but what was their n value? Where did they conduct the survey? Did they include a variable mix of people? Were their surveys limited to a particular geographic region or cultural group?
I can't seem to find the survey on MailShell [mailshell.com]...anybody having better luck? I did a domain search through Google [slashdot.org] but no luck.
Not challenging the accuracy of the survey outright, but it would certainly help to have a link.
Re:I take back... (Score:3, Insightful)
Mortgage rates (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Mortgage rates (Score:4, Insightful)
His mortgage rate is 0%. (He doesn't have one.)
Sheeeeesh! (Score:5, Funny)
Did I miss anything? I mean damn, how many different ways can you spell V!@G.RA???!
You did miss something (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sheeeeesh! (Score:4, Funny)
His wife's breasts are larger.
I could have saved him some money. She should have just rubbed her breasts with toilet paper, it worked on my ex-wife's ass.
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.
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.
Re:Sheeeeesh! (Score:5, Interesting)
She and her colleagues now use codewords to describe the drug in e-mail.
it's a sad day (Score:3, Funny)
buy pr0n sites? (Score:3, Interesting)
He says he purchased two pornography Web sites, again via spam, and ran them for a while, but then he decided they weren't worth the trouble and disabled them.
Spam that advertises buying and managing for porn sites? What?!
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)
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.
Re:Hypocrisy? (Score:3)
Yes, why should we judge people who financially support those who commit FRAUD? After all, we can all to say whatever we want, even if it's not true right?
WRONG
Re:Hypocrisy? (Score:3, Insightful)
You pursue fraud from a criminal fraud point of view (ie, investigate the defrauder and prosecute), not by preventing the poor idiot from buying into the fraudulent idea.
Re:Hypocrisy? (Score:3, Insightful)
Now he's not aiding and abetting, but he is encouraging and promoting. Should we stop someone from encouraging illegal activity?
If an eight year old comes up to you, cigarette in mouth, and asks for a light, is it okay to lend him your lighter?
I think both ideas...children smoking, and idiots spamming, are equally reprehensible and should be discouraged.
Re:Hypocrisy? (Score:4, Insightful)
"...not by supressing people's rights to do stupid things."
So we shouldn't suppress peoples "right" to do something stupid, like... say, drink 8 pints of beer then drive a 4 tonne truck whilst reading a newspaper and combing their hair.
People buying stuff from spam has consequences for the rest of us. The most obvious being that we also recieve increasing amounts of spam. There may also be a link between spam and criminal gangs (however, I can't provide hard evidence for this).
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
Re:Sounds fishy (Score:3, Funny)
Easy. His wife makes $160k being one of those Meet Horny and Bored Wives in Your Area.
Re:Sounds fishy (Score:3, Informative)
(I agree with the WSJ on this, but I couldn't link to a WSJ page because it's a paid subscription. You'll have to read about it in another newspaper. According to the Journal, "Lucky Duckies" are the non- or low-taxpaying class. Some guy who's the head of household making $40K a year doesn't pay much taxes.)
Re:Sounds fishy (Score:3, Interesting)
A lot of people enjoy shopping, browsing around garage sales, flea markets, etc.. A lot of elderly or disabled people like to watch the Shopping Network, use eBay, and are the people targetted by spam.
T
Real vs "Scam" Spam? (Score:5, Interesting)
demographic? (Score:3, Insightful)
Will make MILLIONS, boys! MILLIONS!
he's my role model (Score:3, Funny)
i'm growing a pony tail now, and trying to imitate his ways. and i would urge everybody else to do the same. maybe some day we will all be as great as He is.
thank you.
After reading the article all I can say is (Score:3, Informative)
Orlando Soto is a spammer (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Orlando Soto is a spammer (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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].
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....
Re:Flea Markets, Rummage Sales, 4H (Score:3, Funny)
Rats (Score:5, Funny)
An interesting proposal about why you'd want SPAM (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, go back in time to: Life Magazines and to older comic books - could there be one day in the future that sellers on eBay pay collector dollar for old Spamvertisements - just like they do for Wrigley's Gum ads, Coke ads, Life magazines, comic book ads?
I saw in someone's journal that they were collecting SPAM just for posterity sake - to get some good laughs when they were 75. Another was collecting them as a reference database for creating filters.
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.
SPAM vs Ads (Score:3, Insightful)
Quote from Article (Score:3, Interesting)
"Mr. Soto says he also has bought some adult DVDs and videos via spam, but never got around to marketing them.
Yeah right! I wonder if his wife believes him.
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.
I can't believe this guy. (Score:3, Interesting)
People that engage in this type of behavior on a regular basis have some sort of OCD problem.
I know a few people like this guy, they troll garage sales and flea markets and their houses are full to bursting with *shit*...
They have this vision that they are going to resell the crap at garage sales and flea markets and make a living. Truth is, they lose BIG every time they set up at a flea market. They spend ~$200 to set up a booth for the weekend and if they are really lucky they sell about $15 worth of the crap they collect.
At garage sales it just costs them the time to do it but they usually only bring in less than $50 for the trouble.
These people are chasing the brass ring but they never catch it. What a waste of time, effort and money..
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?
Re:My guess. (Score:3, Funny)
Stipples. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Doesn't this seem like a put-on? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think so. This could very well be completely true. This guy is a habitual impulse buyer. He's addicted to buying stuff and it evidently gives him a thrill to do so.
I've known several people that were addicted to buying things like this, only they did it at the mall, or pawn shops, or thrift stores, etc. I had a friend who's parents bought stuff all the time. Their house was stacked high with junk they never used or even touched again after it was purchased. They literally had to move large piles of random things whenever they wanted to sit on the couch, eat at the table, or do most anything in the house.
If you're addicted to this extent, what better place to feed your addiction than the internet and specifically, your email box? There are thousands of things pitched to you every day (maybe every hour!) no matter what you're doing on the net.
Just like every other media outlet, it screams "YOU NEED MORE STUFF!"... but I digress. :-)
Re:Doesn't this seem like a put-on? (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree (Score:3, Interesting)
The article then states, "He's the kind of person spammers love: a serial buyer."
If he were the kind of person spammers love, then why am I getting many times more spam and I've never bought anything via SPAM? I'm still just a potential sell, while he's the guaranteed one.
I call BS.