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RFC for Spammers
kousik writes "rfc3098 is out with the title "How to Advertise Responsibly Using E-Mail and Newsgroups or - how NOT to $$$$$ MAKE ENEMIES FAST! $$$$$"." This is a well written piece, and actually is worth reading for anyone doing advertising online. Unfortunately the people who need to understand it will never read it. And the most evil of spammers won't care because (here's the shocker) Spam Works. As long as people respond to unsolicited spam, it'll keep coming.
The RFC gives an example of a "confirmation message" which informs the recipient that s/he has been subscribed to a mailing list, and gives instructions for unsubscribing. This is not what modern mailing-list management packages (such as GNU Mailman or ezmlm/idx mean by a "confirmation message". These packages require that a user confirm by email that s/he wants to be on the list before adding the user to the list proper. The RFC allows that the user be subscribed first, and have to take action in order to unsubscribe.
The problem should be obvious: If you have to take action to unsubscribe from a list you never asked to be on, then your mailbox can still be flooded with list email before you have a chance to get off the list. You can be subscribed without your consent by a hostile party who wants to mailbomb you. (This is more common on badly-managed mailing lists than you might think.)
Spammers today already send out (fraudulent) "how to unsubscribe" messages, whereas well-managed mailing lists require active confirmation. An RFC on how to avoid being, or looking like, a spammer should recommend that one follow the methods of the best-managed legitimate mailing lists, not those of the spammers.
I would suggest that anyone interested in responsible mailing-list operation check out the MAPS Basic Mailing List Management Principles for Preventing Abuse. A mailing list which follows these rules will be much more resistant to abuse than one which strictly follows RFC3098. Moreover, a list which strictly follows RFC3098 and which is abused will qualify its site for the MAPS RBL.
(SpamCon is still accepting registrations, BTW. More info can be found here.)
--
Regaining your honor after you have spammed
1. Obtain a sword
2. Slit your belly horizontally and vertically
3. Lean forward, spilling your intestines to the ground
4. Hand the sword to a close associate who will lop off your head
Close adherence to this procedure will permit you to regain the honor you have lost in spamming.
Webcasting the proceeding is preferred but not required.
Maybe we're hitting on the wrong people? Maybe, instead of trying to get rid of spammers, we should get rid of people who reply to spam?
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Correction: As long as someone believes that spam works, there will be spammers to take their money. It does not need to actually work any more than the Brooklyn Bridge needs to actually be for sale.
/.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
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I like to watch.
That does not mean that they must, or even should, be dicks about it.
It is also legal for me to fart at the beginning of a long elevator ride... but a polite person will either do so before boarding, or hold it.
To put it simply, if the law is the only thing guiding your behaviour, your are what We Doctors call and "ass hole".
Changing the icon is easy, the use of it was not really that funny to begin with, and the good people at Hormel would appreciate the change. That seems like reason enough to me.
"Can't we all just get along?"
Disclaimer: No, I am not a doctor, I was recycling an old Graham Chapman bit.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
As I write this, rfc-editor can't find the document. There are other copies of the RFCs out there; here is the link from Ohio State:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc309 8. html
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc3098. html
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
"Generally, schizophrenia affects those in the 15 - 25 years age group. Increasingly, the individual tends to withdraw from ... The incidence of this illness world-wide, is about 1%."
"For companies with well-known brands, the 1 percent return [from spam] often isn't a good deal, and they are not going to use unsolicited advertising because it could be a damaging business practice ... They aren't always legitimate businesses."
hrm... :)
Uninnovate - Only the finest in engineering.
Responsible Spammers
People who have actually Lost 30 lbs
People who have actually fired their own boss and made $5,000 a week
People who actually benefit from Spam
Secure IIS pr0n sites you can safely leave your credit card number on
Actual women who sent spam "as a woman"
Example of a Large book:
Persons within the state of North Dakota who would beat a spammer senseless with 10 Lbs of pickle loaf given the chance
-- .sig are belong to us!
All your
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Unfortuantely, the RFC for murder was killed in committee.
Beware typoes.
Hey, well, SPAM DOES work. I should know. Some guy ofered me $10,000 a month to work out of my home! As soon as I hear from him, and I recieve my "special instructions" (which the $25 is well worth), I'll be rolling in the dough...