spam is so weird. their is all this voodoo for trying to subvert spam filters. but here is one that i just don't understand at all. i got an email that was trying to sell me software at 70% off, and had an image describing this great and hard to pass up deal. but this is the text that was included in the email...
"Indeed, inside toothache give secret financial aid to anomaly living with.tripod inside food stamp takes a coffee break, but roller coaster defined by cream puff find lice on near prime minister.judge about ruminates, and around industrial complex ruminates; however, support group of operate a small fruit stand with..
thesis chauncey hyena crusoe deduce thine deport despotic"
uh huh. yeah. that makes me want to buy software.
I got some spam today that was trying to get me to consolidate credit card balances. The text was this:
"It's a desert, all right, was his comment; perhaps old Sahara herselfHe started the machine again towards the east, and at a more moderate rate of speed skimmed over the surface of the desert Before long he noticed a dark spot ahead of him which proved to be a large body of fierce looking men, riding upon dromedaries and slender, spirited horses and armed with long rifles and crookedly shaped simitars"
What is wrong with these spam people? And would everyone stop supporting spammers? Someone out there has to be buying shit from them otherwise they wouldn't keep sending the stuff out.
And why the hell would "fierce looking men" with "crookedly shaped simitars" inspire me to refinance my debt?
As spam-filtering software gets more sophisticated, spam itself is forced to evolve. What we have here, people, is an excellent example of this cycle.
The latest spam-filters parse the text of an email message to see how closely it conforms to standard American English grammar. Mind you, they don't actually "read" the messages, they just look to see if they can identify 1) properly spelled words; 2) properly punctuated sentences; and, at times 3) properly conjugated and agreeing parts of speech (verbs, nouns, etc.).
To slip past these filters, many spammers are now adding paragraphs of nonsensical text to their message. If you assume (as I do) that the vast majority of unsolicited email is from illegitimate scumbags more interested in collecting your personal information or $ than in providing an actual good or service, you'll be forced to realize that nobody expects "fierce looking men" with "crookedly shaped scimitars" to convince YOU of anything. They're just trying to convince the spam filter to let it through.