Operation "Oinc-In"! - Page 3

henryzz · 2012-12-18, 17:12

Do you count as spam anything that you can unsubscribe from?

Brian-E · 2012-12-18, 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryzz

Do you count as spam anything that you can unsubscribe from?

Actually, I think something you can't unsubscribe from (in practice, regardless of any "unsubscribe" link) is quite a good definition of spam.

henryzz · 2012-12-18, 18:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian-E

Actually, I think something you can't unsubscribe from (in practice, regardless of any "unsubscribe" link) is quite a good definition of spam.

Some of the emails in the images look like subscriptions rather than spam.

Xyzzy · 2012-12-18, 18:46

We are not reading the messages or anything. We are just letting them "fill up the bucket".

We figure eventually one (or more) spammer will sell/give our test email address to another and things will spiral out of control.

Once we have a million spam messages it might be interesting to (somehow) analyze them to see if there are any patterns.

So far we are a bit underwhelmed. We expected to be swamped with spam.

NBtarheel_33 · 2012-12-18, 18:54

I have found "unsubscribing", when such a link is available, often truly works as advertised. There was a brief period when I had taken the time to unsubscribe from every list that I could, and my spam count dropped down into the low teens per day. You would be surprised how many times you buy something, register for a Web site, fill out a contest form, etc., and you are actually signing up for a whole heap of subscriptions, but you just don't see the opt-out button in the fine print. Most American companies are aware of and compliant with CAN-SPAM (on pain of devastating financial penalties and even jail time).

The more interesting cases are those that I have encountered lately, where the spammer fixates on one particular product (examples include mortgages, restaurant franchises, and even underwear - because I don't know where to buy tighty-whiteys, after all) and sends 10-20 messages per day all from the same (easily blocked) domain name, often taking the time to even make their subject lines seasonally appropriate: "Buy New Underwear for Christmas", "Open a Restaurant Franchise for the Holidays", "Santa brings you a new Mortgage!1!", etc. Once I get bored with the interesting subject lines, I can generally make an Outlook rule to redirect that particular domain to the junk bin.

All in all, between unsubscribing and blocking with rules, only about 20 messages a week survive in the Bulk Mail folder, with several hundred ending up in the instantly-deleted Spam folder.

LaurV · 2012-12-20, 06:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryzz

Do you count as spam anything that you can unsubscribe from?

Anyone should. Any unsolicited advertizing is spam, it makes you to waste time on it. For many spammers, the main goal is to find out if you are a real person. They will send a mail to you, ask you if you eat cheese or not, and then say if you don't want to be asked, then unsubscribe. After you unsubscribe, they will never bother you again. But now they know you are real.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NBtarheel_33

I have found "unsubscribing", when such a link is available, often truly works as advertised.

Indeed. I found out it ALWAYS works as advertized: you will not receive THAT kind of thing for which you unsubscribed, from THAT advertizing house. But they will immediately spread your address to their friends, who will put you in "real persons!" list, because by "unsubscribing", you just proved you exist, and you read your mails. So in days or weeks, you will start receiving other things from other guys, or same things from other guys... etc.

There are bots who generate random@yahoo.com or @gmail.com email addresses and send crap to them, then collect in a list the dummies who reply (including unsubscribing).

"Unsubscribing" is wrong. Put the sender in the black list (so its messages be moved/ignored/deleted/whatever, this may include playing with the outlook's email rules, if you are still using outlook) and delete the message. The effect is the same as unsubscribing: you will not see any mails from that guy. But you don't give yourself away. And you may go from "20 per week" to "2 per month".

Uncwilly · 2012-12-20, 06:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryzz

Some of the emails in the images look like subscriptions rather than spam.

I am responsible for a number of those. They did not require a 'click the link we send you to confirm'.

Xyzzy · 2012-12-24, 17:40

Here is this week's spam report.

Xyzzy · 2012-12-31, 22:45

Here is this week's spam report.

Xyzzy · 2013-01-07, 20:42

Here is this week's spam report.

Xyzzy · 2013-01-14, 14:56

Here is this week's spam report.

2012-12-24, 17:40	#30
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 5·17·97 Posts	Here is this week's spam report. Attached Thumbnails

2012-12-31, 22:45	#31
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 5×17×97 Posts	Here is this week's spam report. Attached Thumbnails

2013-01-07, 20:42	#32
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 10000000110101₂ Posts	Here is this week's spam report. Attached Thumbnails

2013-01-14, 14:56	#33
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 5·17·97 Posts	Here is this week's spam report. Attached Thumbnails

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2012-12-18, 17:12	#23
henryzz Just call me Henry "David" Sep 2007 Cambridge (GMT/BST) 7·29² Posts	Do you count as spam anything that you can unsubscribe from?

2012-12-18, 18:46	#26
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 5×17×97 Posts	We are not reading the messages or anything. We are just letting them "fill up the bucket". We figure eventually one (or more) spammer will sell/give our test email address to another and things will spiral out of control. Once we have a million spam messages it might be interesting to (somehow) analyze them to see if there are any patterns. So far we are a bit underwhelmed. We expected to be swamped with spam.

2012-12-18, 18:54	#27
NBtarheel_33 "Nathan" Jul 2008 Maryland, USA 5·223 Posts	I have found "unsubscribing", when such a link is available, often truly works as advertised. There was a brief period when I had taken the time to unsubscribe from every list that I could, and my spam count dropped down into the low teens per day. You would be surprised how many times you buy something, register for a Web site, fill out a contest form, etc., and you are actually signing up for a whole heap of subscriptions, but you just don't see the opt-out button in the fine print. Most American companies are aware of and compliant with CAN-SPAM (on pain of devastating financial penalties and even jail time). The more interesting cases are those that I have encountered lately, where the spammer fixates on one particular product (examples include mortgages, restaurant franchises, and even underwear - because I don't know where to buy tighty-whiteys, after all) and sends 10-20 messages per day all from the same (easily blocked) domain name, often taking the time to even make their subject lines seasonally appropriate: "Buy New Underwear for Christmas", "Open a Restaurant Franchise for the Holidays", "Santa brings you a new Mortgage!1!", etc. Once I get bored with the interesting subject lines, I can generally make an Outlook rule to redirect that particular domain to the junk bin. All in all, between unsubscribing and blocking with rules, only about 20 messages a week survive in the Bulk Mail folder, with several hundred ending up in the instantly-deleted Spam folder.