Slashdot Mirror
The Economics Of Spamming
Shardleton writes "What kind of an idiot would buy penis-enlargement pills? Even more idiotic, who would buy them from a spammer? Apparently LOTS of people, according to this article at Wired. The operators of a spamvertised order site left their customer logs exposed. There were 6,000 orders for the pills since July 4. Sayeth Wired: "Do the math and you begin to understand why spammers are willing to put up with the wrath of spam recipients, Internet service providers and federal regulators.""
There's now going to be about 6,000 very embarrassed men if these logs remain accessible.
Ceci n'est pas une sig.
What kind of an idiot would buy penis-enlargement pills? :(
Meeeeeeeeeee
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
even more amazing is a coherent FP
The penis enlargement lotions work much better. Send me your email and I will tell you how to take advantage of this great offer!
Worst. Sig. Ever.
Other customers included the head of a credit-repair firm, a chiropractor, a veterinarian, a landscaper and several people from the military. Numerous women also were evidently among Amazing Internet's customers
Talk about salesmanship!
New year Resolution: Don't change sig this year
Tiny dicks AND no brains? Hopefully a side effect of these pills is sterilization...
Garg
Garg
Alumnus, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Accepting payment for an item without sending it. Spammers bet that someone buying Viagra or pills for the enlargement of body parts would be too embarrassed to call the police or Better Business Bureau.
The last reminds me of a scheme a friend and I cooked up in high school, which seemed completely legal to us.
Sell through magazine ads (ok no internet then, just modify for the times) a subscription/package of some pornos, nothing special, maybe just your usual college-girls-gone-wild stuff, for a lower-than-usual price, like 5 or 10 bucks.
Now, you collect a ton of money, then to everyone who sent you cash, you mail them back a letter, explaining that for (whatever reason) you cannot send them the porno they ordered, and you enclose a refund cheque for the full amount.
The catch is, you name you company "Scat-Fetish-Jizz-Gobbler Corporation", or something really sick and embarassing.
You bank on the fact that most people wouldnt suffer the embarassment of facing the bank teller for 5 or 10 bucks.
But you're in the clear - after all you did refund their money.
This was back before ubiquitous ATMs and online payments and all that jazz.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Where can I get the E-mail addresses of those 6,000 people who ordered the pills? I'm a classmate of a roomate who's sister's boyfriend's father's 3rd cousin is a banker in Nigeria who's looking for someone to help him get 300 million dollars out of Nigeria for a cut.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
Okay, sooo... 6000 orders in a 4 week period?
52 weeks in a standard year (big surprise there for some of you!) so 52 / 4 = 13, thus 13 * 6000 = 78000 sales in one year. For a rough estimate of world population right now I'll take 6.100.000.000 people, but that includes by average 52% women. Thus ( 6.100.000.000 / 100 ) * 48 = 2.928.000.000 and 2.928.000.000 / 78000 ~= 37538 years before every male on this planet has a huge penis and the spam will FINALLY stop!
I suggest lynching spammers, much faster.
Hate me!
I alone am responsible for all 6000 orders. Soon, very soon, my penis will be the size of North America, and the world will quake in fear.
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
"an idiot with a small penis "
:)
Aren't you glad Slashdot lets you post anonymously?
"Derp de derp."
At least telemarketing provides jobs.
So does pimping, but that doesn't mean I'm going to recognize it as an overall benefit to society.
Wanna grow your schlong? Do what I do: View pornography! Millions of satisfied customers report a dramatic increase in length, girth and firmness in just minutes, using this ancient time-tested technique.
Disclaimer: Results may not last more than 5-10 minutes.
"In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user. You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total.loser." -Weird Al
You can't make this stuff up.
mitch
"Look at the "pet rocks" that sold in the 70's."
I'd have to say you missed the point of the Pet Rock. The product was actually the (moderately) funny book that came with the rock.
Yours came with a book?
Crap.
Please donate your spare CPU cycles to help fight cancer and other diseases
Variation: subscription service for intelligence improvement pills. Charge $9.95 for a month's supply. When you get smart enough to stop sending me $9.95 a month for sugar pills I have proof that they obviously worked.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Hehe. I always thought, that crap does not work. Their ripping the customer off. But then I saw the diabolicalness of the whole thing.
"Make your penis HUGE"
The penis reducing pills start at $1000...
Apparently, there is a small but significant range in which you're smart enough to use a computer, but too dumb to know what to do with it.
It used to be called AOL, but I think the segment is expanding...
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
"Homer, that was an episode of Happy Days!"
In Soviet America the banks rob you!