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Spammers Say the Darndest Things

The Narrative Fallacy writes "Bill Sweetman has a tongue-in-cheek post about how a few years ago he started collecting some of the more outlandish and amusing email subject lines from the many thousands of spam emails he received promoting various 'solutions' related to his private parts. Sweetman, a Canadian internet marketeer now working for Tucows gets a guilty pleasure from the copywriting 'skills' of the spammers. 'Sometimes the writing is clever. Sometimes it is accidentally funny. And sometimes it's just plain bizarre.' Sweetman writes that it takes a certain twisted creative genius to make your spam message stand out from the rest. and gives us ten of his favorite spam subject lines as well as his would-be replies to the messages. Favorites spam subject lines include 'Small friend is for hiding, big friend is for showing off' and Sweetman's reply: 'Even if the product they are pitching works as promised, I still don't think I would be walking around the neighborhood showing off the results.'"

32 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. I know what he means by thermian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I use Gmail, so the spam I get is nicely packed into the spam folder.

    I don't just clear it though. An amusing minute can be had reading the subject lines they come up with before hitting the delete button.

    --
    A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
  2. Re:Not even funny ... just boring ... like spam .. by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Funny

    The rapture will come on a Sunday.

    Psst ... hate to be the one to tell you, but it already happened. You got left behind.

    Me, I didn't want to go in the first place, so no downside for me ...

  3. Obligatory webcomic link by Wilson_6500 · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://www.spamusement.com/

    Not really a webcomic, not really updated any longer, and I'm unsure if it's completely safe for work.

  4. My collection by Hew · · Score: 5, Funny

    Like the author of the article, I too have been collecting the most poetic entries:

    • Every woman that sleeps with you will wake up with the smile on her face.
    • A big member rules - she is satisfied, you are proud.
    • You can fulfill her request and become extremely blessed.
    • Having an awesome friend in your pants is all you need in this life.
    • A big instrument is a mortgage to success.
    • When your tool is big, the rest of the world seems so little for you.
    • Catch rapturous girls' looks on your zipper protuberance.
    • The best and easiest way to improve your lovemaking is the improvement of your love instrument.
    • Filll your bed partner's brain with the excitement and satisfaction.
    --
    /cj
    1. Re:My collection by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 4, Funny

      The best I've seen is: "Bomb her womb with your man cannon." My friends and I had some good laughs with that one.

      --
      "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
    2. Re:My collection by Johnno74 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I got some spam the other day that said this:

      This iis your penis: 8--o
      This iis your penis on drugs: 8=====O

      I showed it to a workmate. He said "I didn't know they were personalizing spam these days"

      Bastard.

    3. Re:My collection by xlsior · · Score: 2, Funny

      My favorite, from many years ago:

      "How to attract men with large breasts"
      (spamvertising breast augmentation pills)

    4. Re:My collection by fractoid · · Score: 2, Funny

      "How to attract men with large breasts"

      I dunno... be female and hang out in Games Workshop? :P

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
  5. You can hope in one hand... by damn_registrars · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ... And shit in the other, and see which fills up first. He closes by saying

    I hope the days of the spammer are numbered. Until then, at least we have can enjoy a good laugh at their expense.

    But yet almost nothing is being done to actually stop people from sending spam. You can filter and whitelist/blacklist all you want, but that won't stop spammers from spamming. At no point does a spammer likely ever consider whether or not their spam will reach your box; it is a trivial cost for them.

    Spammers will continue spamming as long as they can make money doing it. And a spammer poetry contest is equally as useless for impeding that as filters.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:You can hope in one hand... by hacker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You can filter and whitelist/blacklist all you want, but that won't stop spammers from spamming. [...] Spammers will continue spamming as long as they can make money doing it.

      Completely and utterly false myth. Spammers don't make money from sending email, they get money from people reading it and then buying the trash they're peddling. If filtering works, upstream or at the local mailbox, then the recipients won't see the mail, won't buy the products, and won't give the spammers money. Problem solved.

      Filtering works... and as a testimony to that, I haven't seen a single spam in my mailbox in over 4 years, and maybe a handful of false positives each year, which I retrain with a click and never have to worry about it again. dspam rocks, and blows away everything out there, including SpamAssassin, Gmail's filtering and every other commercial solution I've ever seen. I put Graymilter in front of dspam and sendmail, and the amount of incoming spam my MTA receives and processes immediately dropped by 90%.

      If we reduce the amount of overall spam delivered locally or upstream through filtering, we stop stupid people from contributing their income to the bank accounts of these spammers. It's a win:win.

    2. Re:You can hope in one hand... by dissy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I hope the days of the spammer are numbered. Until then, at least we have can enjoy a good laugh at their expense.

      But yet almost nothing is being done to actually stop people from sending spam.

      You should really get started on that, you have a lot of work ahead of you.

      You say 'nothing is being done' as if you expect others to do it for you. Some people are, and cheers to them. Are you?
      If so, then my apologies, and a cheers to you too. Otherwise you don't have much room to complain.

      You can pitch in and help too, anything from technical expertise (coding new better filters) to legal expertise (better laws to deal with the problem, realistic things to enforce) to financial ($$ donated to those whom do) and everything in between.

  6. LOLspam by ewe2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    is what we've been calling it for some months now, here's a couple of recent favourites:

    Reconstruct your male friend and you will love the changes.
    You won't find even the traces of your small miserable and retarded friend in pants.

    More strength, length, and pleasure with less efforts...
    He temperate? of But. And fix be identical.
    Which in 'we'll glints God. At injury TWISTED, pausing.

    --
    insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
    1. Re:LOLspam by will_die · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just got a new one, today, that is one of the funniest around

      "Brand new Hard Horse Blowjob"

  7. They offered to enlarge my breasts... by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...but I do NOT want to grow man-boobs!
    [and my wife is already properly-shaped]

    --
    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
  8. My favorite from a few years back by dmomo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Throw it to her from the other room.

  9. Sp4m poetry by fluffywuffy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here's some from my spam box...

    It's better to be hung than to work with your tongue.

    Women don't like it tender they need a major member.

    The dimensions of your tool will grow to a duel.

    1. Re:Sp4m poetry by jabithew · · Score: 4, Funny

      The dimensions of your tool will grow to a duel.

      What, you fight people with it? Or ceremonial battles turn you on?

      --
      All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
  10. Funniest spam I ever saw by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 3, Funny

    The funniest spam message I ever saw had the subject header "Pound her 'til she finishes". I thought that was so funny I went and bought some Viagra from them.

  11. Some more data for your entertainment by badger.foo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I generally do not get a lot of spam, but one episode recently made me collect some samples and blog about them (/.ed as Giving Your Greytrapping a Helping Hand).

    That page also contains references such as the complete listing of subject lines from spammers caught in our blacklists over a few years' time.

    Enjoy!

    --
    -- That grumpy BSD guy - http://bsdly.blogspot.com/
    1. Re:Some more data for your entertainment by value_added · · Score: 3, Funny

      That page also contains references such as the complete listing of subject lines from spammers caught in our blacklists over a few years' time.

      Seeing all those subject lines on the same page, I'm reminded of what an AOL logon experience is like.

  12. Re:"Men will see your power in every public shower by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Thats to funny...

    ... as you are to people with low SAT Verbal scores?

  13. The most ingenious idea by Phroggy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The best idea I ever saw for spam subject lines was simply using random news headlines. Knowing full well it was spam and that the message body had nothing to do with the headline, I still had to fight the urge to open the message to read what it said. The headline caught my attention (I think a lot of them were political FUD attacks during the election) and I wanted to click on it to see more.

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  14. Flute... by dargaud · · Score: 4, Funny

    I got a spam with a pretty poetic title yesterday: "The magic melody for your flute". I read it to my wife but she said she prefers the trombone... 8-|

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
  15. Re:"Men will see your power in every public shower by Feminist-Mom · · Score: 3, Informative

    In case you don't want to go bother and look, the others are pretty funny:

    1. "Small friend is for hiding, big friend is for showing off."
    Even if the product they are pitching works as promised, I still don't think I would be walking around the neighbourhood showing off the results.

    2. "The hard friend in your pants will look up into the sky."
    Thanks, but I would prefer it if my friends stayed out of my pants.

    3. "Men will see your power in every public shower."
    If they did, wouldn't I be arrested?

    4. "Who doesn't love a big gun in the pants."
    Isn't that what holsters are for?

    5. "Make your love torpedo drive all the way to her tanker."
    Maybe I missed that SexEd class, but I'm not entirely clear on where I would find a woman's tanker.

    6. "Transform from a grass snake to a python."
    Have you ever seen a python? Ick!

    7. "Make your man's carrot grow."
    What the heck are they selling, fertilizer?

    8. "To the stars your manhood flies when you are happy with your size."
    This writer's a poet and they don't even know it.

    9. "We can make your man's volcano erupt like a famous Etna!"
    Lava. Fire. Smoke. Thanks, but I can do without those in the bedroom.

    10. "Put your doughnut in her oven."
    If my 'thing' looks like a doughnut, I should see a doctor.

  16. The Angry Inch?! by Dogtanian · · Score: 2, Funny

    This iss your penis: 8--o
    This iss your penis on drugs: 8=====O

    The second one's still well under an inch on my monitor. That's nothing to shout about :-O

    --
    "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
    1. Re:The Angry Inch?! by PPH · · Score: 2, Funny

      The second one's still well under an inch on my monitor. That's nothing to shout about :-O

      Want to impress your girl? Big monitors on sale here!

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  17. Re:"Men will see your power in every public shower by Feminist-Mom · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, I agree. Although that could just be his personal style. I've noticed a lot of my more uptight friends are really horrified by these emails, or simply make believe to misinterpret them.

  18. this is by nimbius · · Score: 2, Funny

    not news for nerds, nor is it stuff that matters.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  19. Girl giving head crash by 5pp000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    There was a stretch where I was getting some spams whose subject lines were obviously being constructed: each consisted of a short phrase followed by a single unrelated (and clearly randomly selecte) word. One of them came out "Girl giving head crash". Ever since, I've had an image of a comely female sucking on a disc drive :-)

    --
    Your god may be dead, but mine aren't!
  20. Sometimes regular people can be too clever... by bennomatic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Back in '04, a friend of mine was volunteering for the Kerry campaign, and his email for rallying the troops against Bush and Cheney had the subject line: "Let's Lick Dick and Bush Together".

    Needless to say, I remember being annoyed that my spam filter hadn't caught it, and manually deleting it without even checking to see who it was from.

    A few weeks later, we were both at a dinner, and he was talking about his efforts, and I asked him to include me in his correspondence so I could help out, and he said he had, that I just hadn't ever responded. After a little back and forth, we figured out where the miscommunication was.

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  21. Extreme Cat Rape? by brienv · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just got one today titled "Extreme Cat Rape".

    I guess that's where you go when normal cat rape just doesn't do it for you anymore.

  22. Re:My all-time fave porn spam email subject line by ma11achy · · Score: 2, Funny

    OMGPONIES!!

    --
    Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines