Re: ::scr What porn sites don't want you to know..

[Simon Batistoni <simon@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/10/02 12:10 +0100, Simon Wistow wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 11, 2002 at 09:31:57PM -1100, bill_0671n38@xxxxxxxxxxx said:
> >    YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO RECEIVE A FREE MEMBERSHIP !
> >    NO STRINGS ATTACHED ! That's right...
> >    Access these sites now before you need to pay.. CLICK HERE
> >    or visit http://www.freetrialz.info/~allfree/?email=scr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> Yay! Pr0n Spam
> 
> Grr, too ill to turn this into a thread.

Ah what the hell...

Apparently, as much as 1/3 of mail being sent today is spam. One in
three damn messages. So, I have a couple of random questions:

1) Are other people noticing an increase in spam? I installed
spamassasin about a month ago, and I'm getting over 50 messages a week
legitimately dumped into my "spam" box. As well as the 5 or so
"Offertas" from terra.es addresses, which the Assassin seems reluctant
to kill.

2) Why? Who actually *buys* this shit? Well, that's actually a more
complex question, so here goes.

There must be a critical mass, at which it becomes economically viable
to send spam, and I guess the problem with spam (as opposed to
leafleting or junk snail mail) is that the cost per advert is
practically nil. You probably have to pay a snotty kid somewhere 7
quid an hour to concoct and send the damn thing through an open relay.

So you only need one sucker in a mailing of 25,000 to bite, and you've
made money. 2 suckers and it's looking attractive, 100 suckers and
you're laughing.

But even so, who is actually attracted by the same old same old "low
mortgage rates", "earn $50,000 a month working from home", "hot girls
with wild horses", "take one pill and halve your bodyweight" bollocks?

I actually paraphrased those from memory (having just purged my spam
box, dammit), but those are the more common ones I get. And I guess
the unifying theme is desperation. The desperation of loneliness and
sexual frustration (porn), the desperation of financial troubles (get
rich quick, low rate loans), and the society-manufactured desperation
of being unhappy with your appearance (cosmetic surgery, magic weight
loss).

So the spam industry is making most of its money by preying on
desperate people, and inconveniencing everyone else at the same
time. I just love human nature.

(This does, of course, not include the spams I get from misguided
businesses with whom I've dealt once, and who now think that
reappraising me of their services every week will make me like
them. They're just fuckwits, rather than parasites).