While I can't give the new Spamfire v. 2.3 a really GREAT review... since it's kinda slow, has occasional unexpected crashes, has hilarious Aqua redraw errors, and is built with REALbasic, I can verify that when it works, it does a really surprisingly good job at not letting spam through to my Mail client.

When I trust merely my Mac Mail rules and settings, I pretty much have to restrict incoming mail to my address book. Not the greatest for receiving cold emails from the general public, which being a business I need to do. But still, I have to sit there while Mac Mail downloads and filters hundreds and hundreds of spam messages, which I then have to either delete manually, or wait a certain time period for them to be auto deleted. To me, that's like waiting to have a cancerous tumor surgically removed, you want it gone right away. And since Mail always blocks a few GOOD emails, I have to scan a big long list of messages to make sure they are all in fact, spam.

Spamfire really doesn't filter emails any FASTER than mail, but it has more sophisticated filters that Mail doesn't touch. These filters aren't FREE, you have to buy a subscription of their 231,131 known spammers, but they really do work. They're smarter, they need less teaching.

Meanwhile, it's more like a newsreader, it keeps spam off your localhost and just downloads the subjectlines and headers, so you get the feeling that you're keeping the spam off your computer, because you're filtering it before it even gets to your mail client. That may sound stupid, but I find that psychologically, it makes spam easier to deal with. It makes it feel as if SPAMFIRE is dealing with the spam offsite, leaving me to deal with the good email.

I used to use the app a lot, but as OS X developed, it was always buggy. And something about my mail servers would always give me multiple errors to wade through at every mail check. Now I don't get those anymore. But more importantly, what I don't get anymore, is spam. So far, the app has been smart enough to send through only good messages, including those odd cold ones from the general public.

One or two spams got through the filters, but they were pretty much either totally blank, or had some random text in them, not trying to sell me anything. More like some kid demonstrating how he could get through a filter. But in order to do that, he had to create a spam that had no teeth left at all. Nothing for the filter to grab onto. So he could send me a nonsense message like: "For Judy there was no recovering her mantle. Snails happy forget nemesis thrashing."

I call that "HUH? Spam"... maybe it's some coded message for a friggin' sleeper cell, but it certainly ain't your normal scam spam or UCE.
Nearest I've been able to guess, spam like that is meant to give sniffer apps something to search for, some unique string that tells the hacker or spammer something, god knows what.

Anyway, I can't really fault Spamfire for its, uh, faults, because they are nothing more egregious than those from ANY app running under OS X. I think that no matter who is developing for the Mac platform, they're gonna release a work-in-progress, because the OS is one.

Still, it's refreshing to have a spam filter that actually works for me. I've been running it for over a week, and have been pleasantly surprised. I have set the app to delete the stuff that's obviously spam, and I do still check the Spamfire window from time to time to see if it has detained a good message. But mostly I just leave the app hidden or minimized and let it do its job. And I've been almost 100% spam free. It's a lovely feeling.

You can configure custom rules too, make your own whitelist, approve mail from certain domains that you know are OK.

I'm growing to TRUST Spamfire, because it's giving me reason to trust and depend on it. I realize that in OS X, you never know... something could work to a certain point, then get flaky, but with Spamfire it's so far so good. It's saved me scads of time managing email. I literally was getting crap like a hundred spam an hour, which is a lot to friggin' deal with.

Spamfire also has a "Revenge" feature, which allows you to supposedly report spam to various authorities like the FTC, SpamCrime, and so forth. It lets you report spoofs to ebay and PayPal, which I normally did manually. My suggestion would be to work with SpamCop, which is my reporting utility of choice. I usually only report really evil spam, like those that take my domain name (or thalo.net's) and spam people with those as the return address. Leaving me to field the bounces. That shit's gotta stop, that should be highly illegal, seen as a flavor of identity theft... and that's what I report.

"For Judy there was no recovering her mantle. Snails happy forget nemesis thrashing."
[We blow up the Grand Canyon tonight.]

Cosmic water instigators blossom dove urine.
[Roger that.]

You ought to submit that review to one of the major Mac magazines. It's good and helpful. A long time ago MacUser had reviews such as this. But you dared to call OS X a "work-in-progress." It might be funny reading the rejection letters you get, if any.

But yeah, I agree with you about spam -- especially the "identity theft" sort of spam. That's gotta stop. And yet isn't it a marvel that spam doesn't dry up on its own? Who is keeping it going? Who's buying these products? Do people really respond to this stuff? Do people really buy into the outrageous claims? Well, it seems the facts are that you don't need many hits to make spam worthwhile. Spam is cheap to send out. Direct mail, on the other hand, is not. Although direct mail is full of the same kind of scams, you would never find a sane direct mailer wasting his or her money on some of these spams that boggle the imagination as to how they could be effective on anyone.

I really can't believe people fall for spam. I go on and on about how Joe Blow isn't as much of a retard as the geek elite thinks he is, but somebody could point to the fact that spam still exists, despite the fact that nobody on planet earth with half a brain wants it.

I pay money for spamfire software, because I hate spam so much. Every day I wake up and check my email and don't get any, is like paradise for me. The same as every day that goes by without a telemarketing call makes me feel like life is worth living. I literally would do anything to remove spam and telemarketing from my life. I'd pay money to blackmailers if I could simply get a guarantee that I could go through the remainder of my days without those two things ever intruding. I have never once bought anything because of a marketing campaign. Never once got a piece of direct mail and went, oh my god, I have to have that. Maybe that's because I DESIGN direct mail, and so the con is blown.

I do quite a bit of RESEARCH on the web, to find things I want to buy. I read reviews, testimonials, look at specs, analyze design or conception. And when I want something, I go after it. I don't watch TV commercials and get seduced... I'm more likely to appreciate a CAR, for instance, if it's the topic of a cable show about that particular car, where it gets reviewed, and driven, and talked about. But seeing a car drive up on skyscrapers... "I LIKE TO LIVE ON THE EDGE-UH!" with a disclaimer like "cars do not really drive on buildings"... all that does? Makes me eye roll.

I'm more likely to SHUN a product after their ad campaign than be intrigued by it. The only marketing that works with me one way or the other is movie trailers. Sometimes I'll see or rent a film based on the strength of the trailer. That makes sense to me. I saw the "300" Trailer, and you know what sold me? The shot of the guy with a dozen arrows in his shield, chopping them off with his sword, and continuing to fight. That was so cool I said, OK, you get my $11.

I buy my share and more of yuppie luxury items. I fall in love with crap like fountain pens... Montblanc never airs a commercial. You'll never see an ad, "The Montblanc Meisterstück... at only $475, a great value..." Nah-ah, people would go: FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE BUCKS FOR A FRIGGIN' FOUNTAIN PEN?? And that would be that. And yet I scrimp and save and get one. It's a tool I actually USE, and hey, if I buy the top of the line, AND IT LASTS, I figure it's better than the four $100 fountain pens that will crap out or not hold enough ink for me, or that don't feel as good to draw with.

Montblanc spends millions on its print advertising... they hire Johnny Depp and Nicholas Cage to hawk their watches and pens. Never saw any of it. I went after them, they didn't go after me. I had an art teacher who used one of the pens, and ever since then I wanted one. That was the advertising that worked. A customer that sung praises.

Apple advertising has never swayed me like it did in 1984, with the brilliant Big Brother ad. I buy Apple products because of my long history with them, not from their ads. I LIKE the iPod ads, but they didn't make me want to buy an iPod. What really sold me on an iPod was my cousin. He had one, and let me dick around with it.

If we really analyze WHY people buy things, I don't think it is because of advertising. Maybe that's what makes KIDS whine to their parents for certain toys or cereals... but I don't think advertising dollars are translated as readily into revenue as people think. Infomercials do a better job at that. It's proven. A longer sales pitch gets people to bite, product demonstrations, people who use the product saying how great it is...

But come on, SPAM? Friggin' bullshit emails from people afraid to put their real return addresses, promising you cheap drugs or penis enlargement, diet pills, or rolex replicas? You'd have to be out of your mind to actually click any link in a spam and give out your credit card number. It's insanity. I'm not saying people DON'T do it, but holy tapdancing christ on a crutch.

Here's a spam that was filtered out by spamfire, but could easily have been written by brother brad, lol:

quote:

The guard that had been whipping and yelling stopped to look through the crowd.
When people speak and share stories of their walks with Christ I listen.
The nail was placed in the middle of His hand. My mother had once told me too, that Oyego was my birthday mate but I dismissed all that with giggles of disinterest and mildness. Of course, no one knew when that would be.
Somebody help get him down! The hate keeps us from reconciling with God. Devilish thoughts were beginning to fill me to the brim.
He was a normal, oversexed, 24 year old man, and far too handsome for me to ever deny him his carnal pleasures.
Billy could sleep through cannons roaring, so the television did not bother him, and soon Poppa, still holding our sleeping toddler, was fast asleep too. The death of love Ladies and gentlemen, it is so insane to say, and I have a deep sorrow to say, that all we have said in previous paragraphs must have an end.
We walked slowly, cautiously.
We walked slowly, cautiously. Gene reminded Billy he was the father and he would not tolerate his son talking to him that way, much less telling him how to manage his life.
Because none can be interested in something or in someone else without little-medium-or huge interest in that person. Because any forced love would not be called love, violated or abused-love instead.
Another guard checked to see if Jesus was dead. Therefore, every single individual has right to be or not in love.
I do not want any trouble. Gene had asked us to come to Griffin for Thanksgiving to be with the family, and now he was not even here, nor could we get in touch with him!
But it hurts a lot when only one side gives up while another side wanted more time in love.
I silently watched his rigid face and waited for him to calm down, since talking to him when he was this upset was of no use at all. It was our first time of visiting the stream without those big earthen pots often held cautiously on our heads, preventing them from crashing and inviting the wrath of our mothers at home.
All those above mentioned nice and emotional words and more similar ones are used often to express better how we feel ourselves, or to impress our targets, or our defined preys. Simon helped Him to His feet. I've verified that this girl is a real female and she is VERY hot. His lips were parted; no words were heard.
We had nothing to worry about since the boys and Poppa were out in the backyard taking turns pulling Michael in a red wagon. Inspite of all these predictions, the sterling fell minutes after the Monetary Policy Committee's February 7th and 8th meeting reviews were published.
Gram, with her apron on, but in a fresh dress, was putting the final touches to a cranberry salad mold, and the mouth-watering aroma of the roasting turkey came from the oven. Therefore, every single individual has right to be or not in love. Jesus looked up to the heavens.
We walked slowly, cautiously. If you like a bit of girl on girl action then you'll love this gallery from Lightspeed 18.
On his head was my hat made with local raffia staws.
The whip rises; the guard swings and slashes His back.
I had washed my hands clean, I thought.
On his head was my hat made with local raffia staws.

I'm supposed get that email and do, what, exactly? Probably nothing. Did you catch the little porn reference? It wasn't even linked. I'm sure it's part of some harvesting scheme... some "bot" probably goes around tunneling into servers looking for that particular text, if they find it, not sure what that's going to tell them, but it can't be good news. It's probably victim identification for hacking or more spam.

have never once bought anything because of a marketing campaign. Never once got a piece of direct mail and went, oh my god, I have to have that. Maybe that's because I DESIGN direct mail, and so the con is blown.

You know, I do think you have a point. I've heard it said more than once by scientists that they aren't very good at disproving the claims of the paranormal. That's why guys such as Randi are so valuable. It is the opinion of many scientists that it takes a con artist to expose the tricks of another. Of course, Randi isn't a con artist, per se. But you know what I mean.

Oh, I'm quite sure I've bought tons of stuff due to marketing campaigns. You see something new on TV. You later see it in the store and buy it. You've just bought something because of a marketing campaign even if it's just an improved model of a refrigerator. Be proud of your profession, thalo. Many people have said that if only we could get rid of all this advertising then the prices of products would come down. This just isn't true. Advertising is the primary means by which new and truly improved products can be made known to the customer. And without this working channel of direct connection between buy and seller, there would be no incentive to develop better and less expensive products.

Granted, there are those generic store brands that cost less. I think they ride the coattails of established product categories that required lots and lots of advertising and marketing to be established. And, of course, there is the phenomenon of designer apparel and other status items where value has less to do with inherent quality and more to do with image value. Is this a scam? Well, yes and no, I say. It's a scam in one sense because, like bottle water, you may be marketing something that nothing more than some municipality's tap water. (One of the Bullshit episodes I just watched showed one brand of bottled water that was nothing more than some city's tap water.) This seems to surely be in the category of at least an ethical scam, if not a legal scam. But where do you dry the line? Do some chick really really really really need that diamond? Does some guy really need that fancy new sports car? Of course, me being a capitalist apologist, I say let the market decide. Only Commies and Socialists make the stupid error of deciding from on high what product are necessities and what products are luxuries.

But clearly the way some things are marketed makes them little more than scams, even if they are not technically illegal. I've been scammed only once. Back in the 70's a bought some kind of greatest hits record off of TV. And it turns out that all the songs were there, but they were not sung by the original artists. Ooops. I must have missed the fine print. I was scammed, although surely the seller was technically covered in some way. Could I make money doing this kind of stuff? Yes. Would I? No. For whatever reason, the scamming part of me fell on the other side of the gene pool. I just can't do that stuff. And so it truly boggles my mind how anyone could be stupid enough to fall for any of those spam emails. Granted, there actually could be something worthwhile from time to time that shows up. But because 99.99% of that spam is absolute crap, anyone with one ounce of common sense should probably, if they see something they want, go to Walmart or Amazon.com and buy it just to make sure they're not getting scammed.

I'm supposed get that email and do, what, exactly? Probably nothing.

It seems like there must be a logical explanation for stuff like that. But another part of me sees some human somewhere being commanded by disembodied voices to type out these words. It sounds so crazy.

Did you catch the little porn reference?

The "forced love" phrase?

quote:

But come on, SPAM? Friggin' bullshit emails from people afraid to put their real return addresses, promising you cheap drugs or penis enlargement, diet pills, or rolex replicas? You'd have to be out of your mind to actually click any link in a spam and give out your credit card number. It's insanity. I'm not saying people DON'T do it, but holy tapdancing christ on a crutch.

I agree. It *is* insanity. But it isn’t likely that spammers would bother sending out spam unless they got enough hits. Again, I would suggest that everyone should read Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. I might re-read it again. I thought it was that good.

We can debate on what is a scam and what isn’t. We can debate about what is an honest marketing technique and what isn’t. And I imagine each of those discussions could easily run for thirty pages or more. But the fact is that we humans have some loopholes, hooks, and vulnerabilities in the way we think. That’s why I recommend the above book. It explains nearly all of them so well. People can be played. That’s a fact. And I’m still a bit aghast at just how gullible many people are (I have my moments as well). But I mean many many people are just really really gullible. You’d be surprised (or perhaps you wouldn’t) about how many people just do not think with what we call the scientific mind. And I don’t mean that anyone has to have go around with the intellect of Stephen Hawking. I just mean a basic rational approach to existence. There are scads of people who believe in UFO’s despite any hard evidence that aliens have visited this planet. There’s just a mindset out there that is totally foreign to me. So, yeah, I look at all this spam and I can’t believe I’m of the same species as people who buy into this shit.

quote:

FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE BUCKS FOR A FRIGGIN' FOUNTAIN PEN??

Why would anyone think it strange that you…what? YOU SPENT FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE BUCKS FOR A FRIGGIN’ FOUNTAIN PEN?? Holy crap. That must be a great pen. That’s definitely not a pen that I would stick in my mouth and chew on as I pondered things, which is what I often do. It would sort of take the fun out of it if I had to nursemade an expensive pen. Or maybe for a friggin’ FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE BUCKS the barrel of the pen is made out of titanium and can’t even be scratched. Chew to your heart’s content.

quote:

The "forced love" phrase?

LOL, no, the "If you like a bit of girl on girl action then you'll love this gallery from Lightspeed 18" phrase.

quote:

Why would anyone think it strange that you…what? YOU SPENT FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE BUCKS FOR A FRIGGIN’ FOUNTAIN PEN?? Holy crap.

Yeah, I know... and that's after NOT being conned, cripes. But I'm a sucker for the classics. The paragons of industrial design. It is a great pen. It's the largest fountain pen on the market, too... holds a ton of ink. And I gotta laugh, I've CAUGHT MYSELF getting ready to put it my mouth like a cigar and chomp on it (it's that size).

Surprisingly, even though the materials are kind of precious (semi-precious resin body, gold nib, iridium tip), it's a pretty tough pen. As with any fountain pen, though, you don't want to carry it nib down in your pocket, say, on a PLANE... they can leak if there's a big change in pressure... the little plunger in the body can cause the ink to squirt out. But the Meisterstück has a screwdown cap now, that can prevent most real disasters. The resin can be scratched, like any plastic, but the pen will still work. People buy similar pens on ebay that have been in service since the 1950s.

You buy a Montblanc pretty much to show off or score chicks. For image. It's impressive if you haul it out when talking to a client, say to make a quick sketch of a project or something. People in corporate america notice your watch, and your pen. That's man-jewelry, but you have to be careful, you've gotta carry it off like it's just your pen. Otherwise you come off as kind of one of those guys that looks at their own biceps when they point at something. Remember the reasons I bought the Powerbook 17 incher? For show. Gets me work. A little razzle dazzle.

Meanwhile, I wear a TIMEX watch, becase the watch I want is fairly expensive. The thalomobile is a sensible Buick, because I'd have to sell a kidney to get the car I really want. My suits are Men's Wearhouse, because traveling to London a few times a year for clothes isn't practical for me. My shoes ain't italian. Not totally stylin' or living the life yet. I'm still more of a shirtsleeve designer than metrosexual, which are the guys that haul in the big bucks.

The Montblanc WATCH I want is well over two grand ("Timewalker" Chronograph), and I'd probably get a new Mac before blowing that kind of wad on a friggin' watch. But it is a lust item for me. There is so little really impeccable design in the world, that when I see true excellence, I do want it, but sometimes I just have to bite it and wait... bide my time.

LOL, no, the "If you like a bit of girl on girl action then you'll love this gallery from Lightspeed 18" phrase.

I actually couldn't force myself to read every single word of that piece of spam. I skimmed. I couldn't help skimming. It just hurt too much to read that incoherent stuff.

Yeah, I know... and that's after NOT being conned, cripes.

And you shouldn't let my superficial humor throw you. Reading the remarks of you, Rico, and others about the (what shall I call it?) love you have for the finer things in life (especially those smaller, less showy things), well, I feel like I've been hit with a touch of culture. And I'm not sure how to get it off me. I think it's stuck on me.

But I'm a sucker for the classics.

You know what I really love? I don't surround myself with them, but I really like the design of kitchen appliances from the 30's, 40', and 50's. Back in the day when the question was never asked, "How can we make this lighter, less stable, cheaper, and more easily breakable?" Crap. I've got this great HP 2300 LaserJet printer which does a swell job. But if I dropped a donut on it the flimsy plastic case would probably shatter to the ground. You could kill Godzilla with some of those home appliances from the 50's. Lots of solid metal. I sorta miss those days. I get tired of cheap and disposable.

And I gotta laugh, I've CAUGHT MYSELF getting ready to put it my mouth like a cigar and chomp on it (it's that size).

Well, gee. That opens up all kinds of possibilities for friggin...I mean, for a friggin' $475 pen. Let me call Monica and get her opinion.

It's impressive if you haul it out when talking to a client, say to make a quick sketch of a project or something. People in corporate america notice your watch, and your pen. That's man-jewelry, but you have to be careful, you've gotta carry it off like it's just your pen. Otherwise you come off as kind of one of those guys that looks at their own biceps when they point at something. Remember the reasons I bought the Powerbook 17 incher? For show. Gets me work. A little razzle dazzle.

Spoken with a pure honesty that I doubt most could manage.

I'm still more of a shirtsleeve designer than metrosexual, which are the guys that haul in the big bucks.

You no doubt know the truth of that far more than I do. But the fact is that "the show", having expensive stuff, putting out the image, is the cartoon equivalent of picking someone up, holding them upside down, and shaking them so that all their money falls onto the ground. It works. And even if people know that you know it works. It still works. That's why I'll never be rich. I'm like Francis of Assisi (but without all the chicks...but did that guy know how to live it up): I know the beauty and truth of poverty. Well, not complete poverty. Who the hell wants that? But there is a truth that lays underneath all that image making. I won't say it's a greater truth. But it is another truth.

I have in my hand right now a BIC "round stick grip". Medium point. Made in the USA. Probably 35 cents, tops. It works. And when it stops working I throw it away. I've tried having more expensive pens (and watches), but they always get lost or busted. But I don't begrudge anyone nice things. It's just that I always wind up breaking them.

I've already got your Christmas present picked out, thalo. It's a $650.00 roll of toilet paper made out of silk with all hand-painted oriental images around the border of each sheet. I'll send it on to you later. Give you something to look forward to.

A follow up on Spamfire. I had been using it since the start of this thread, let's see... March 29. Well by yesterday I had had enough.

I'm revising my review to say, like many OS X applications, the performance degrades with use. And it may not be just the app's fault, OS X itself degrades with use, and this probably impacted the Spamfire functioning.

I found not only did the Spamfire engine start eating up cycles whenever it went to check and filter mail, but it would crash pretty much every time. Checking multiple accounts, what would happen is that some accounts would stall, others would check fine... but when the next scheduled check arrived, a couple accounts were still in a stalled state, and this would cause gridlock.

Now, Spamfire did pretty much END spam from getting into my inbox. But at what cost? I'd check the Activity monitor, and sometimes I'd see that Spamfire agent pulling down 75% of the processor. Which is ridiculous for something as simple as checking email.

Unfortunately, things began to choke Spamfire. Big attachments, months of training as to what's spam and what's not... who knows. But it seemed to me the app was--like OS X--becoming increasingly unreliable. So I uninstalled it.

I may try again on the next version, but right now the best thing for me is probably to use Mac Mail, and just set a rule that says delete any email from anyone not in my address book. I'll miss a few, boo hoo. Hey but that's what the phone is for.

Thalo have you thought about setting up your server to receive and filter email for spam then send out the good emails to the client machines?

This way you would not need to have your Workstation tied down to filter email which is on on going process going on in the back ground as you are working.

I have no idea how I'd go about that, brother Rico.

I mean, I'm sure I could use Mac Mail on Seabiscuit to get my email from all my accounts and filter it... but how then to get it to send out only the good email to Mac Mail on the Radiator? Not a clue.

Mac OS X Server does have Mail Services. I have not had to deal with it at all so I can not tell you were to begin. It sounds like it would make sense for you to give it a look. It would be one less thing you would have to have running in the background on the Radiator.

It can not be that complicated. Tiger Server will filter the mail. The client machines will retrieve filtered mail from Server. It is probably not all that more convoluted than setting up Mail on the Radiator.

I think the mail services are designed to run as an actual mail server off the internet. Now, I'm pretty sure my cable provider won't let me do that. Unless I pay big numbers for the privilege.

Seabiscuit right now is a FILE server on my local network, which the provider could care less about. But once it starts acting as its own domain with a presence, I think all bets are off. But just the same I'll look into it. I'm sure it'd be OK as a client machine, fetching mail from all these accounts... but then I'd have to figure out a way to serve the mail internally only, behind the firewall.

Speaking of spam, I got yet another email system upgrade on the server end. So while checking out my new webmail, I took a look at the spam it had filtered. Here is a sample of the ones having to do with my member:


Guaranteed erection fast
Get mind blowing sex
Increase your penis width (and girth)
Restore power to your groins
Just 2 pills to add 2 inches
Be the best lover in her life
You look really stupid brotherbrad
Real enlargement
Upsize your manhood today
Make her wet
10 things girls love about men
Make her climax again and again!
Producer stronger, rock hard erections.
Gain 3+ inches in length
You look really stupid brotherbrad
Stimulate your shaft growth
What a stupid face you have here brotherbrad
How to enlarge penis size
Be an object of all women's craving
Re: Proven enlargement secret
Size truly does matter
Make your hot rod longer
Penis Enlargment Review
BIG P3NIS -- everyone can have pifai
Last Longer in Bed
Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
Feel more of her excitement
Real cheap VIA@RA
Last Longer in Bed
You can Enlarge Your Penis by 3"
You need to improve you little friend
10 tips to get her in your bed
Your ex will come back for more
You look really stupid brotherbrad
Cuum harder with our miracle pills
Get immense rod for yourself
What a stupid face you have here brotherbrad
Proven long-lasting effect on its dimension


Crap. If all that is possible, why is this stuff being filtered out as spam? You bet I want a few more inches. You bet I want to last longer. You bet I want to be able to get a girl into bed just by looking at her. You bet I want volume, length, girth, longevity, enlargement, sensitivity, hardness, craving, shaft growth, and even more. Why, oh, why is this stuff being filtered out as junk spam? If true, I want this stuff at the top of the list and all those other messages like, "Hey, Brad, where's the job you had promised me yesterday?" or "Hey, I need a proof of that NOW, not in an hour" to be filtered off as annoying junk. Screw that stuff. Give me length. Give me pifai (whatever the hell that is). Give me mind-blowing sex. And I can have all that by responding to an email that merely asks for a few dollars. But a few dollars for a few inches, is that too much to ask?

Yes, I freely admit it. I want to upsize my manhood today. What's wrong with that? Did you really think girls liked me for my mind? Heck no. If I want the ex to "come back for more," I know it will take more than roses and sweet talk. Yes, I want to be the object of all women's craving (except for a few like Rosie O'Donnell, but that goes without saying). Yes, I want to restore power to my groins. (I thought I had only one groin though.) Yes, I finally do admit that "size truly does matter." I've been fooling myself before this. I thought listening to her go on and on and on about boring little nothings while fighting the rapid urge to sleep was what really endeared oneself to women. But I was wrong. Now I indeed do look really stupid, brotherbrad. I want to make her climax again and again. And I know that in order to do so I need a big P3-NIS, whatever the hell that is. But if it takes shelling out a few bucks to get it, I'm game, for I indeed do want to improve my little friend. After all, what are friends for?

If you use all these products you will have a 35 inch penis.

It's not the cock you want big, just the BALLS.

I'm still waiting for the piece of spam that says, "What women are really attracted to is money, so for god's sake, don't waste any of it on bullshit penis lengthening scams. These secrets and more can be yours for only $49.95 in my new book 'How to Get Chicks with a Short Dick and a Big Wallet.' Order today."

I haven't tried the products you see on TV, you know with the strangely smiling guy, promising "instant male enhancement"... but I assume it's just some sort of bladder and urethra irritant that gives you a half-hard.

Miracle of miracles, little thalo angry is actually LARGER than little thalo after wading in an ice cold river! Wow.

Here is an insane article that says 97 percent of all email traffic is spam.

Incredibly that is down from 98 percent this time last year.

My question for you, Rico, remains the same as it has always been: Who are the idiots who are answering these spam emails and thus make them profitable?

Being sort of in the business... er, not of spamming, but designing marketing emails... lots of sales happen not because people RESPOND to spam, but simply because they OPEN it.

Bulk emailers sell themselves by their open rate, meaning people who actually load and view the email in their mail client (when the images are downloaded, this is recorded as an open)... and the sap customers think, jeez, I will reach that many people. Responding is a whole other ballgame, and usually the numbers are not very impressive.

The money in spamming is self-generating. Traffic is worth money, response is irrelevant. Spammers make most of their money trading lists of valid email addresses, harvested by um, spam, or by malware or bots.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that you are confusing idiots who fall for scam spam (like Nigerian prince spam), with where the real money is... which is selling bulk emailing to rubes (by proving that x million people received and didn't throw out this mail without opening it first.) THAT'S what these guys sell to their clients, the promise of exposure.

Scam spam or phishing schemes, that's a whole different animal. Those do bank on a sucker being born every minute. And while there's a lot of that that goes on, it doesn't really need a large number of responses to perpetuate. ONE moron in a blast of five hundred thousand emails (which cost them zero) casts a wide enough net to maybe scam somebody out of a few hundred bucks. By stealing their personal info, bank account number, whatever.

But the con doesn't depend on LARGE numbers of people falling for it. Just a couple. And in the bazillions of emails that go out, there are always going to be a handful of brain-dead retards.