[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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