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12% of E-mail Users Have Responded To Spam

Posted by timothy on from the related-stories-are-must-reads dept.

Meshach writes "An article in Ars Technica claims that 12% of internet users have actually responded to spam messages and tried to buy items. Although I find this hard to believe, it does explain why my spam folder is always full." Also in spam news, wjousts links to a Technology Review article about how spammers get your e-mail address, writing "E-mail addresses in comments posted to a website had a high probability of getting spammed, while of the 70 e-mail addresses submitted during registration at various websites, only 4 got spammed."

9 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. That's why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm posting as an anonymous coward, so they don't spam my e-mail address.

  2. Of course people respond... by Heed00 · · Score: 5, Funny

    How else are they going to win the Nigerian lottery? You can't win if you don't enter.

    --
    Thought thinks itself.
  3. no kidding? by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    12%?

    Really? I honestly thought it would be much higher...just basing that off of some of my daily interactions with people. It's a good thing breathing is an involuntary action, cause there are a lot of people out there who'd forget to.

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  4. Definition of "Spam?" by Hyppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The entire premise of this article depends on the definition of "spam." One could mark a legitimate business' unsolicited email as spam, but that doesn't mean that purchasing a product because of the material in one of those emails is newsworthy.

    Nigerian princes in peril are another matter, though.

  5. Which sites sell addresses to spammers? by piojo · · Score: 5, Informative

    I would have liked the article to state which sites sell e-mail addresses to spammers. They would certainly deserve it.

    I use unique e-mail addresses for (almost) everything I sign up for, and I've never gotten a spam message from any of those unique accounts. I started getting a lot of spam when I first posted to LKML, which is published online.

    --
    A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. Lately... by jciarlan · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Every so often I go through my spam folder, it's pretty funny. I've noticed lately that a lot of them don't even have links, it's like they're just trying to annoy us. For example, I received this yesterday:

    Forge your huge love sword

    and that was it. No link, no pictures. My theory is I have a really good friend who goes through a whole lot of effort just to make me smile. Either that, or it's an insult on my manhood designed to make me feel inadequate.

  8. My email address has only been on Slashdot by Neil+Blender · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I got this username and email as an experiment. I have only posted it publicly on Slashdot and have not used it for anything else. I don't even check it. I just checked. I have 5,000 messages in my spam folder. And gmail deletes them after a month. So posting my email publicly on Slashdot only is resulting in 5,000 spams a month.

  9. LinkedIn sold my email address by oman_ · · Score: 5, Informative

    A friend of mine invited me to linkedin by using my personal email address and lo and behold I started getting a ton of spam relating to owning a business.

    Never EVER EVER type your (or a friends') email address in to a website no matter how reputable they seem.
    They will change their privacy policy the second they decide to make a buck.

    And I hope the linkedin people go to hell because now that email address is about useless.

    --
    Rats would be more funny if they could fart.