[Hidden-tech] An Idea about Email

[ussailis at shaysnet.com]

But this is not what I am talking about. 

I see it on the small (really small) ISP receiving end. Many messages with
the same stuff, same header, same text, etc. Yes, much, much more spam is
randomized, has a different fake header, etc. But some does not.

I also think that the number where one dumps it as spam is highly dependent
on the number of users a given ISP's server has. 4 or 5 would work for me.
Perhaps 2017 is the number for someone else. That's a TBD.


Jim Ussailis



Original Message:
-----------------
From: Shel Horowitz shel at frugalfun.com
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:40:46 -0400
To: brian at sherbang.com, hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net,
ussailis at shaysnet.com
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] An Idea about Email


At 7:24 AM -0400 8/26/08, Brian Johnson wrote:
>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's
area.
>    ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>ussailis at shaysnet.com wrote:
>>  Here's an idea.
>>
>>  Since I have become the owner of Shaysnet, I have had a chance to look
at a
>>  lot of spam. What I have observed is many of my users get the same
stuff.
>>  So, couldn't there be a program that says "if X users (let X be some
>>  reasonable number like 4) get the same mail, it is spam, therefore deal
>>  with it"
>>  
>
>This will break mailing lists (like this one) because they send the
>exact same message to many people, and it wont do much against spam.
>Most spam will have some parts that are randomized each time to thwart
>this type of prevention.


I agree with Brian. I have a number of people who have requested that 
I send them humor or political alerts, way more than four--plus I 
have thousands of subscribers on my various double-opt-in 
newsletters, though those are handled by a service. Even if you 
whitelisted the big newsletter services, people like me who are not 
spamming but who send a lot of mail will not be happy. Spam is a 
scourge, but so many of the cures are worse than the disease. It's 
really a challenge. I've shown up on a blacklist for friends and 
family, just because their providers didn't like my webhost. Imagine 
trying to email your own mother and being told it was blocked for 
spam. Yet somehow all the bodypart and pharma junk gets through.

And I find certain of the largest cable providers apparently filter 
on some terms related to progressive politics. There's got to be a 
way to control spam without censoring the real stuff, but it doesn't 
seem to have been developed yet.
-- 

_________________________________________________
Shel Horowitz - 413-586-2388/800-683-WORD shel at frugalfun.com
-->Join the Business Ethics Pledge - Ten Years to Change the World,
One Signature at a Time  (please tell your friends)
<http://www.business-ethics-pledge.org>
Marketing consulting * copywriting * publishing assistance * speaking
How to market ethically/effectively: http://www.frugalmarketing.com
Ethics Blog:  http://www.principledprofit.com/good-business-blog/
Books: http://www.frugalmarketing.com/shop.html
_________________________________________________


--------------------------------------------------------------------
myhosting.com - Premium Microsoft® Windows® and Linux web and application
hosting - http://link.myhosting.com/myhosting