Rubénerd :)

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Dear CNET, I provided my location in my account profile with you, please don’t send me spam that doesn’t even relate to me. Sincerely, Ruben in Singapore and Australia.

This sort of thing happens to me all the time, and not just from CNET. How hard would it be to check a user’s provided country before sending them offers and competitions they’re not eligible for? One or two extra lines of code?

Fornicate like a macho!
Enlarge your male dignity!
[redacted spam link]

Clearly you have a differing view on the subject of dignity than I do, spammer person. Now if you’d excuse me, I’m off to a coffee shop while wearing this shirt.

I didn’t say I had any dignity, just that they’re idea of it is different to my own. Grilled cheese sandwiches and whatnot.

rubenerd,

As mentioned last week, because you’ve posted articles, photos or video to NowPublic [I have?], our sister site [redacted], is now personally inviting you to also become an Examiner for the US or Canadian city where you live – chose from 160 – or for one of the two national editions.

(emphasis added)

If this was an autogenerated email, it wouldn’t have taken much effort for them to see that I’m clearly not from either place! I suppose it’s too much to ask for spam to at least be slightly relevant ;).

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam…

Spammers often add random sentences to their messages to fool filters, some of which end up being oddly amusing and almost poetic in a bizarre sort of way.

Read this post >

Two Twitter posts in a row? Sorry, it won’t happen again!

Read this post >

I’m not just fed up with suspect political lobby groups this evening, I’m also irritated with internet trolls. Firstly to set the scene, I consult iPhoneUserNews.com for my iPhone news (surprising thought it may seem) for six irrefutable reasons that are so irrefutable as to be practically carved into stone. If stone carving could be scripted and delivered through the Internet Tubes. I guess they could be pneumatic. The tubes, not the stone.

Read this post >

This morning I got the following email offering me the opportunity to create paid posts. Aside from the fact I would never agree to do it unless I’d be allowed to explicitly say I was paid to create a post, it looks a tad suspicious to me. Whaddya thing?

Dear Ruben,

As part of expanding our [redacted], we search the net for high quality blogs and gifted web writes. I’ve visited your website and read some of your recent posts, including Back at KLIA at night again, virtually.

Ruben, you definitely have a unique and interesting writing style and an intriguing high quality blog. Since you and your blog meet our quality guidelines, we would like to offer you to join to our unique and highly rewarding program.

About the program – The program links our customers with gifted writers like you and pays them for writing short articles. You already do that, so I’m sure you will be happy to be rewarded for your talent. We do not ask nor expect you to write ads; rather, we give you complete writing freedom and appreciate your creativity and imagination.

I hope you find the concept of our program interesting, and would be happy to provide you more information about it. Please email me back and in the mean time feel free to visit our website [redacted]

If this email does not interest you, I apologize and I will not contact you again.

Sincerely, [redacted]

Remember almost one month ago to this day I registered for a Woolworths Everyday Rewards loyalty card? My primary reason was so I could present the card when I shop at my local Woolies here in Mawson Lakes so the check out folks wouldn’t ever ask me if I had one ever again, and to that end its been a huge success!

Turns out I should have been more cautious after all, this morning I got my first spam message from them, and unfortunately even after reading the whooping 23 lines of fine print at the bottom of the message I see no way to unsubscribe. I suspect the only way would be to cancel my account.

I guess it’s just transferring the irritation from people asking me for that card over to the realm of electronic junk mail. I’ll admit it’s an improvement, but not exactly what I was looking for.

As a greenie, while electronic junk mail frustrates me, it’s nothing compared to the frustration I feel when we get snail mail junk here, especially considering we have one of those "No Junk Mail" stickers. I’m starting to think I may have to be more specific. It’s such a waste of resources considering very few people want them and often just throw such crap away away.

This latest piece of [expletive] junk mail disuses itself as a legitimate piece of business correspondence with a proper envelope and fake franked stamp. Upon opening though, its just a huge slab of loose leaf advertisements peddling everything from phone contracts to hit men (I presume). Despite not asking for it (opting in) and having a notice on my mailbox stating I did not want it (opting out) they gave it to me anyway.

I already have contracts with Telstra and Optus alas, but as for the rest I will not be purchasing goods from the following folk for supporting such a dodgy enterprise. I’m not linking to their sites so I don’t inadvertently give them Google Juice, and I’m showing them in a cloud to make it look less icky. Thank you.

Bradford Exchange

Can I exchange your junk mail for mail I want?

Debt Mediators Australia

How much money did you blow paying for this advertising?

Electrodry

Do you make electric shredders?

European Lottery Guild

I like to spend my money to get something in return

Fitness First

No, irritate people with your junk mail first

Kresta

Are the blinds on your glasses shut guys?

IdentityDirect

No need, I’ve identified you as a junk mailer

InsuranceLine

Why not spend the money paying claims instead of junk mailers?

Labels By Mail

After receiving junk by mail, is that how it works?

MagnaMail

False avertising junk mail, a Mitsubishi car can’t fit in an envelope

Maths Worldwide

I don’t trust their maths if they thought paying spammers made financial sense

MyAdventureBooks

MyAdventureSpam?

SGIC

Sorry guys, junk starts with a "J" not a "G"

Vet Products Direct

They want me to feed my pets shredded junk mail?

Vistaprint

I love Vista, and I certainly love printed junk mail

WholeSaleToner

WholeSaleJunk!

You remember when I posted about that women who was being rude to me on Twitter? Looks like her account was suspended:

WomanwithBite won’t be troubling you any more, because (s)he’s been breaching Twitter’s terms of service, regarding abuse etc, (s)he ain’t on twitter any more.

But I’m sure (s)he’ll come back in a different guise.

What’s interesting is the person who posted this comment pointed out something I hadn’t even given a second thought to: perhaps she was a he. Not sure how much of a difference if any it would have made when I was reading his/her messages to have been suspicious of that, but given he/she didn’t link to any external accounts and his/her profile didn’t include anything except reels upon reels of rude comments to a handful of people, it’s entirely conceivable the person was a fabrication.

The funny thing is, I wish Twitter would get more serious about spam accounts than just rude people like her. I thought she was harmless :).

I downloaded her page from Google Cache and uploaded it here if you want to read the last few tweets she made, including the one where she called me a clown. If I am a clown, I don’t get paid enough!