Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Enrique Corbellini · Joined: 20 May 2009 Posts: 85

Hello puppyusers, I have been tortured the last 3 days by a worrying, which is, a friend asked me to start using spam-maker programs, since he believes it's not a way of bodering people but a legal and acceptable way for selling things to work and earn our life.
At the begining, I thought he was wrong, but finally, listening to his argument saying that "making spam is much more inocent and less agressive than watching adds on TV or hearing and seeing adds in media", he ALMOST convinced me.
So I used the puppy forum search tool to see if there was any puppy program useful to spider e-mails, and spam them, after they are collected. I didn't find that, probably because I found, instead of that, some people taking distance of any proyect that could make damage to people privacy. I don't know if this is simple paranoia in my mind, or if it's what's really going on with this.
Finally, I found many Windows programs that do that, as we all know. In some cases, I found explanations about how spam create PC user's hedeaches, and in other cases, how spam reduces PC user's hedeaches!!! no way to know the truth about this, I believe.
In any case, it was easy to see that spiderers and spam-maker programmers, have a benefit in not having in Linux a strong enemy against their way of making money, selling this programs, since it's not easy to find them for free.
May be I should tell my friend, to use only Windows to make spam, and forget Linux, or at least forget Puppy Linux. But then I'll believe spam-maker programmers will have a bit advantage to make money, compared with other programmers.
I wonder if could exist a puppy-solution for all of this situation. Well, more exactly I wonder for the reality about spam programs, I found it difficult to know. Want to be taken out of this ignorance!

8-bit · Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 3012 Location: Oregon

If you have not noticed already, spam type messages that get posted to the forum get reported and removed quickly.
If you have a legitimate product you are trying to sell, there are sites that you can use. The forum is not one of them and only pisses people off.

bugman · Joined: 20 Dec 2005 Posts: 2131 Location: buffalo commons

WhoDo

Lobster · Posted: Fri 14 May 2010, 22:55 Post subject:

Here is a technique I advocate for Buddhist monks who are not enlightened
and for 'poor' spammers [bless]

Flash · Posted: Fri 14 May 2010, 23:52 Post subject:

Please post your friend's name, home address, email address, phone number, Facebook account and/or any other personal details you happen to know. Maybe we can help him attain a more enlightened state.

I'd like to spend my time doing something useful like testing new versions of Puppy, but instead I have to waste time cleaning spam out of forum. Evil or Very Mad

Pizzasgood · Posted: Sat 15 May 2010, 01:55 Post subject:

To me, spam doesn't seem like a profitable idea. When I receive spam about a product, I don't feel enticed to go buy that product. I feel repulsed from that product. They lose my respect.

stu90 · Posted: Sat 15 May 2010, 07:12 Post subject:

I always buy my penis enlargement pills form people who flood spam my inbox then clone my credit card details Crying or Very sad

ken geometrics · Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 76 Location: California

tubeguy · Joined: 28 Aug 2009 Posts: 1278 Location: Park Ridge IL USA

All about spam, translated to Spanish by Google

James C · Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Posts: 4740 Location: Kentucky

Just glad my spam filter works pretty well...... Laughing

DMcCunney · Joined: 02 Feb 2009 Posts: 894

Enrique Corbellini · Joined: 20 May 2009 Posts: 85

Undoubtely some interesting opinions here gived answer to my post. Thanks for that.
Please don't kick my ass because of my wondering, just was asking ha ha
I believe Pizzasgood gave an interesting opinion, but respect of what WooDoo said, I still believe television advertisement is more agressive than spam.
Unless there are lots of spam messages in the mail box, is easy to find the ones that have been sent by friends or preferred people. Spam messages say what they are, they say it in the "subject", though is true some of them want to capture our attention saying lies. Radio, TV, street-ads, etc., put the information in our senses, with no choice of forgetting them.
May be this doesn't happen the same everywhere, that's true, but at least in my city, well, it's horrible how media's noises bother people.
I also think many of the spam messages that come, should never have come, but some other messages gave usefull information. I used some of these spam messages some times, not necessarily to buy something.
Flash seems angry because of this idea, well, if i tell my friend not continuing making spam, should I tell him to put ads on TV and radio? making more noise?
Thanks again to all of you, all of your opinions helped me in the search for a solution.

Flash · Posted: Sun 16 May 2010, 13:25 Post subject:

I get angry when someone posts spam in this forum. Spam in my email inbox is a nuisance, but my spam filter does a pretty good job of filtering it. Spam posted in this forum must be removed which wastes the time of people who keep spam out of the forum, which makes me mad. If your friend wants to pay to help defray the cost of maintaining this forum, then we'll consider letting him post advertisements in the forum. Otherwise, they aren't allowed.

Your friend is free to start his own forum and post whatever he wants in it.

Pizzasgood · Posted: Sun 16 May 2010, 17:23 Post subject:

Sure, it works in the short term, but I wonder if it's effective over time. In the long run it might cause more harm than good through people boycotting anything they receive spam about (e.g. next time they're in the store and would have bought that brand, they remember the spam and go with a different brand). When it's a bunch of small people reselling, not the original company, that isn't as much of an issue because it's theoretically not the original company's fault. But when you are the original seller, it could have nasty repercussions.

@Enrique: Spam is different from TV commercials. Commercials are generally very distinct from the programs that they interrupt. Email, on the other hand, all blends together. If I look closely I can distinguish them. But I don't want to. I shouldn't have to hunt through my email to determine which ones are real and which are trash.

That brings me to the second difference. Companies pay TV stations to run their commercials. Those proceeds go to support the TV station. The same thing is the case for banner ads on the web. So for those, it is valid to argue that if you don't want to see them, just don't use the service. They are an integral part. Without the commercials, there would be no TV (or else it would be more expensive).

But with spam, it exists only to benefit the spammer. It does not support the email service. If there were no spam, the email service would still be the same, or possibly cheaper (less strain on the system - but since it's mostly free anyway the user wouldn't really notice). So it isn't valid to argue that I should just accept it like I do with commercials.

A third difference is that unlike TV, email is a fairly integral service. I watch very little TV. That's just entertainment. But I need email. It is one of my main channels of communication. How would you like it if you were talking to your boss/coworker/professor/friend and some guy came up and started trying to sell you stuff? And if this happened several times every day? It would be annoying.

My feelings are that spam is rude and intrusive. Anybody who spams me becomes dirt, as far as I am concerned.