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NZ Spammer Shutdown Makes Big Difference
lump writes "A notorious spammer, based in New Zealand, who had his name and other personal info released first in a national newspaper, and then on the web, has shut down his operation, citing harassment. What interests me about this case is that, in the 5 or 6 days since he has supposedly stopped operating, I personally have had one (1) spam email, to an address which had previously averaged around fifty per day. Colleagues report a similar reduction in spam. All I can say is 'excellent.' Hate to say it, but in this case, vigilante type action seems to have had the desired result. This needs to be publicised, as anything which slows down spam can only be a good thing."
I really have noticed a dramatic decrease in the amount of spam I've received in the past 4-5 days. I figured it was just due to my dilligence with unsubscribing myself to mailing lists but everything just suddenly dropped off.
I live in NZ and read the original article. + the followups.
The original article was in the national paper The Herald, around two weeks ago. The original article was only a moderatly sized peice at the back of the paper (IT section). The author had simply had enough of the spam and was also worried for his daughters exposure to things such as viagra. So he went about tracking the spammer down. He eventually found him, rang him and organised an interview. Thus the spammers name appeared within the paper and thus harassemnt began.
So then the spammer become worried for his family .
some peoples moderation does not include weed
Computerese variant; you can find it all over the websites of virus authors and script kiddies.
We here on earth call that "slang." Every industry, culture, and sub-culture has it. All well and good. Sometimes a slang term gets to be so prevalent it will enter a dictionary and be noted as such (usually with sl.) If the term can really hang on, and/or enter into a mainstream culture beyond it's industry (as "byte" has) it may receive "official, formal" language status. The English language "benchmark" (to borrow the technologist's phrase for a moment) is the OED. I'm sure the folks who edit that are monitoring "virii" very closely *cough*
The word "viruses" refers to biological organisms, and the distinction is valid and desirable.
What, are you making this up as you go along? I give you credit for thinking on your feet. The OED cites several colloquial and figurative uses of "virus" as a rapidly spreading "poisonous influence." It's from this sub-text that computers are said to have viruses. No distinction between non- and biological use exists. Good one, though.
Now back on topic: The previous poster contended that "virii" was a Latin term. It's not. The plural of "virus" in Latin (if one fancies oneself as a dead Roman) is "virus." (I don't know what the plural is in Klingon.) Currently, "virii" is a *slang* term spottily popular among youthful script kiddies for the plural of virus. It is akin to "boxen," only several tiers more dorky as many of its users actually think it has some etymological legitimacy, and is not merely a made-up "play-on-words" word.
Happy to help. Glad you stopped by. First one's free.