[PLUG-TALK] Watches
Jason Martin
nsxfreddy at gmail.com
Tue Feb 10 07:09:43 UTC 2009
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 9:01 PM, Michael M. Moore <michael at writemoore.net> wrote:
> Google does my spam filtering and I generally leave it in the spam
> folder (err... spam "tag", this being GMail), just giving the
> subject/author headers a once-over every day or two and then marking
> all as read. There aren't many false positives, and their filters do
> a pretty good job of catching most of the spam I get. With rare
> exceptions, the spam that most often escapes Google comes over the
> various Debian mailing lists I'm on.
>
> I have noticed, though, that the amount of spam is on the rise. GMail
> auto deletes spam more than 30 days old, and for a while there,
> shortly after that take-down some months ago of that company in CA
> that apparently was generating tons of spam, I typically had fewer
> than 150 messages in my spam folder. Now it's up to 270 and rising.
>
> What perplexes me, though, is the amount of "replica watches," "Tag
> Heuer," etc., etc., spam I'm getting. Porn and sexual enhancement --
> to be expected. Prescription drugs without a prescription-- par for
> the course. Get rich quick schemes -- de rigueur. But watches? When
> did that become such a big deal? I feel a bit Rip Van Winkleish, like
> I fell asleep for a long time and woke up to find the world has gone
> mad for Rolex knock-offs. I know these things aren't new; anyone
> who's been out in public over the past 30 years has passed street
> vendors selling fake Cartier's and such. But why the huge push over
> the Intertubes? Is this really such a successful niche that it
> warrants the push? Or am I somehow, unwittingly, included in a
> special group that is somehow being targeted?
>
> I guess what I'm wondering is whether everyone is getting as much
> watch spam as I am, or only some of us are. And if it is everyone,
> good grief, what's the appeal?
I've wondered the same thing. Perhaps Gmail is just pre-populated
with Rolex spam? I've certainly been impressed with their spam
filtering over the years - perhaps I don't get as much spam as I
thought and they just add spam to the tag periodically to make me
think they are better than they really are :-)
Cheers,
Jason
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