Okay… I’m in complete Spam Overload at this point. 
And it’s not just email spam anymore. It’s Forum spam, MySpace spam, blog commenting spam, telephone spam, door spam, mailbox spam… you name it!
(I know there must be someone out there asking “what is door spam?!” LOL. That’s when people knock on your door to sell you magazines when you’re trying to cook dinner, or what have you 
)
It’s everywhere I turn lately. My phone is ringing off the hook with offers, my email spam folder is filling up, my Inbox is full of MySpace notifications and blog comments to moderate… It’s enough to drive a woman mad!
I have a great email solution (SpamBully), but I still like to at least scan through the spam folder to make sure nothing important slipped through. It’s rare - but I do like to make sure. Still, I’m grateful to have my Inbox clear of that mess once and for all!
A quick scan usually means quite a bit of scrolling - whether its email spam or 72 new blog comments - and day in and day out this gets really frustrating. Not to mention it causes one hellacious migraine after awhile.
For some reason I’ve attracted some new (relentless) blog spammers here lately who are driving me mad across several of my blogs. Of course, the spam never makes it to my blogs so it’s just a waste of both of our time.
I imagine that means I am going to have to install image verification or even email verification and force people to jump through hoops just to leave valid comments. What a pain, right? 
Part of me wishes I had the time to take action against each and every spammer. Contact their registrar, their host, their email host (yahoo, gmail, etc) and get them shut down. But realistically I know that they will just pop back up with a days time using different email and hosts anyway…
The fact is, it would be a waste of my time and just a lot of negative energy spent for nothing. So I am stuck installing the latest and greatest whatever on any site/blog/email account I own, and just mass deleting what makes it through.
As for the phone and door… I just dont answer them these days unless I know who is on the other end. It doesnt make it any less annoying, just a little less interrruptive 
.
While we’re on the topic of Spam, I’ll share an interesting Spam recipe with you. I dont have a good name for this one… some have called it “Spamghetti”, others “Spaghetti Surprise”. It’s a quick and easy dinner, though if you’re not a big fan of green olives you might want to replace it with something else.
Spamghetti Surprise Recipe
for those that have more spam than they know what to do with…
Ingredients:
Rotini Noodles
1 Can of Spam
1 small jar of Green Olives
1 large jar of Spaghetti Sauce (with mushrooms)
Directions:
Chop the Spam and Green Olives into chunks. Add into the Spaghetti Sauce and put over medium heat. While the sauce is cooking, boil desired amount of Rotini Noodles for 10 minutes. I usually use at least half of the box, if not the whole box. Drain pasta. Stir pasta into sauce.
Serve with Parmesan Cheese & Garlic Bread
This is about the only way that I like Spam!
Tags: email spam, forum spam, blog spam, comment spam, phone spam, spammers, telemarketers
12 responses so far ↓
Rob :-) // Oct 13, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Have you noticed how the myspace spam is nearly always web cam groups..?
I even noticed some 14 year old complained about getting the same invite.. yet in the email there is no mention of it being smut… its out of order really.
Have forwarded complaint to myspace about it too..
I thought you wernt allowed to use myspace to promote, make money.. as in ads and the usual spam crap… isn’t this the same.. think those smut makers do it for free?
Its a sad day when spam is everywhere but it IS happening..
As you say its not just email enymore.. its everywhere.
Rob
Rob :-) // Oct 13, 2006 at 5:17 pm
P.s use word verifiation,… those of us like myself won’t mind the extra hoop…. after all… what amount of time is a simple word verification going to cost us?
Two secs?
Thats nothing….
Rob
P.s Just some comments on mine would be nice lol
Teli Adlam // Oct 13, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Lynn,
I feel your pain. My personal blog spam stats are now just over 17,000 trapped in less than 5 months. My business blog spam stats are just over 3,000 in less than 6 months, and every day I delete about 100 spam comments from my OptiNiche blog. And don’t even get me started on the e-mail spam…it’s insane.
They’re even sending out MySpace phishing e-mails. I mean come on, what are these guys thinking?!?
Sometimes I wonder why spammers even bother, but then I remember the 1% rule…
Nice recipe though.
Lynn Terry // Oct 13, 2006 at 5:38 pm
LOL - you’d have to try it. It’s much better than it sounds
Kristie Tamsevicius // Oct 13, 2006 at 6:38 pm
I’m with you. I don’t put up with spam. When phone spammers call and it’s a persistent number that calls EVERY night. Eventually I just pick up the phone and say, “please remove me from your marketing list” and then hang it up.
If someone starts out and it’s a survey or trying to sell my ANYTHING just say I’m not interested and hang up.
Hey, time is money. I have the right to spend it without being
asked to pull out my wallet and waste my time.
We have the right to enjoy peace and quiet.
We don’t have to put up with unrequested calls, emails, and door spammers selling magazines and such.
I’ll bet that Spam isn’t too happy about their brand name being turned into such a hated word for junk email.
Is that an original recipe?
Lynn Terry // Oct 13, 2006 at 7:04 pm
> Is that an original recipe?
It is, as far as I know.
I agree with you that we have the right to enjoy our peace and quiet… but what do you do? I cant turn the ringer off with kids in and out (esp when they are out)… and as far as online spam, its practically unavoidable everywhere you turn.
They have us trapped
Paul Short // Oct 13, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Rather than reporting them to their registrars and hosts, hit ‘em where it hurts most - their wallet.
If you have one spammer pummeling your blogs, click through to ther sites and view their source code. There, you can get their Google AdSense ID’s or the affiliate ID’s of most of the revenue sources they have. Then report them to those programs because 99% of them have strict rules in their TOS about spamming.
BTW, we both know the major sources of spammers, so ask yourself if it’s worth it to expose your URL’s to those
Lynn Terry // Oct 13, 2006 at 10:10 pm
True, Paul…
Robert // Oct 15, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Even using Askismet whixh is part of recent Wordpress Releases, the Spam still gets through, right?
I second using Verification.
The recipe sounds interesting and will try it out.
When is the Discussion Forum expected to reopen?
Lynn Terry // Oct 15, 2006 at 7:47 pm
By morning at the latest
Hopefully before the end of the day though…
Ladan Lashkari // Oct 16, 2006 at 1:14 pm
I agree that spammers are really annoying. I too receive a lot of spamy emails and blog comments every day.
But thankfully we don’t have any snail mail, phone, or door spammers over here in Iran. It’s something that is not common at all for some reason - which is great!
Actually it’s hard to imagine for me how my daily life would be when I keep getting disturbing calls, junk mail, and also strangers at my door pitching me about some products I don’t want.
My guess is, it must be hard to imagine for you too how life would be without these types of every day spam, isn’t it?
Ladan
Lynn Terry // Oct 16, 2006 at 2:35 pm
It’s quite interruptive! Count your blessings
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