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Re: ===>> FREE 1 yr. Magazine Sub sent worldwide- 295+ Popular USA Titles

1995-10-29 13:59:50
Joshua Lewis <jlewis(_at_)iosphere(_dot_)net> writes:

Would you people CALM DOWN!!?!?!?

Why the hell does everyone have to go up in arms everytime someone sends 
a spam? Spams are harmless! Spams even sometime are interesting and/or 
useful!  

You'll never stop spamming, and what are you trying to prove? You can't 
prosecute the person - there isn't any laws, and there new will be. Calm 
down and whenever you see a spam you don't want, hit the delete key and 
move on.

Respectfully, Joshua, you are wrong.  If you tolerate spamming, it will
only get worse.

Spamming has been stopped again and again.  Almost without exception,
the spammers have been tracked down and, via one means or another, have
been convinced to stop spamming.

Spams are harmless?  I've already seen the 'Magazine Sub' message 10
or 12 times.  I have a low bandwidth line.  If I continue to tolerate
spamming, I will pay a very real penalty in performance as tens, then
thousands of spammers do it.  Not to mention the personal time involved
in taking care of the crap.

Don't think that the time involved is signficant?  Just wait.  My wife
and I are fairly generous with our time and money.  As a result, we were
getting an average of five telephone calls *per night* asking for money
for various causes.  A year ago, I adopted a new policy -- I will not
under any circustances give money to a caller, and will only consider
it upon written solicitiation.  I ask them to put me on their `do not
call list'.  If they do *anything else* to continue the conversation,
I hang up on them.

My wife opposed this, and we agreed to disagree -- if they ask for her,
they get her.  If they ask for me, they get my speech.  After a year,
she is getting 2-3 calls per night and I'm getting one or two a week.

My point here is that individual action *does* get re-action from the
mailers.  Sure, the *ssh*les will continue.  For them, I copy their
internet providers on my complaints and call their Better Business Bureau.
It works.

If one does this politely and consistantly, 98% of the spammers will stop.
The remaining 2% will discover that they're in a different world from
direct mail or telephone solicitation.  Their mailboxes will be
overloaded with complaints (when it takes a single keystroke to invoke
your complain macro, you're very likely to complain).  Then their
suppliers mailboxes will be overloaded with complaints.  The free magazine
folks, who've been hiding behind false ids and forging mail, will find
that they're on the wrong side of the law.  I'm considering contacting
their local legal officials and urging them to investigate, because it
sure looks like fraud to me (read `Consumer Reports' for a similar case
by surface mail).  Should a few more like this come in, I *will* contact
their legal authorities.  We have their fax number; it's all we need to
find them.
-- 
` . . . I'm a sysadmin, with an admitted preference for things I can
reboot over things I have to negotiate with . . . '
                Mike Shaver (shaver(_at_)neon(_dot_)ingenia(_dot_)com)