Back to Gaffer's Archives.
For anyone who has E-mail.
"This message is not spam."
How many times have you seen that piece of bull?
As soon as you see it you know that spam is exactly what it is.
Let's define Spam.
Spam is any unsolicited E-mail advertizing which is sent out in
mass mailings. That makes all advertizement and all of the so
called newsletters I receive in my inbox spam.
No matter how many rules I create to keep spam out of my E-mail
box, I get more every day. Those spamming swine proliferate like
poison toadstools in a rainforest.
Why?
Because it doesn't cost them anything. That's why. Broadcast E-mail
advertizing does not have to be cost effective because it is cost
free. That's why they can flood the net with garbage.
So, what can we do about it?
For my own part, I would favor summary execution for all apprehended
spammers.
I know, I know!
The fact is, we can't do anything. Any cure I can think of is worse than the disease. The problem will only be solved when service providers make honest efforts stop these people from operating out of their systems. In the meantime, I will keep creating anti-spam mail rules. The blocked spams go into a special delete folder where I can quickly scan the subject lines and delete them en-masse.
There is another annoying thing about this. That is the label it has somehow acquired. I don't know exactly who decided to call it that, but If I were the CEO of Hormel, I would be miffed. Spam is a grand old name. It is a canned meat which was first introduced in 1937 and was a second world war, army staple. A lot of troops survived on it. I still like it fried in a sandwich.
I think it was probably some computer nerd with no sense of history who first called junk E-mail spam. So, let's retaliate.
Let's put "Intel inside" stickers on all those portable outhouses.
How about a Windows logo on our Etch-a-sketch.
No! That's no good. The Etch-a-sketch doesn't crash.
We would have the same problem with putting a WordPerfect logo
on our pen and scratch pad. They are both reliable. They work
every time.
Perhaps the meanest thing we can do is to leave the software
and hardware logos where they are. Let them stay on the stuff
that is dysfunctional and leave the good names of the old reliable
products on the good stuff.
Back to Gaffer's Archives.
|
|
|
|