Weekly Spam Roundup

They multiply rapidly, and the world certainly won’t ignore them. If you prefer a greener approach, let nature handle it with a cat doing its job in small bottles or boxes that have narrow openings. Then insert some cardboard boxes shaped like funnels into these containers. Mice will crawl inside for food, but once they do, the funnel closes behind them. There is no way out; you end up with one contented mouse without any injuries. Alternatively, there are humane traps available at places like Walmart, where after capturing a pest, you can take it elsewhere and release it… […]

Anyway, this was quite interesting. The original question concerned a pet mouse, but the spammy text spent several paragraphs discussing methods for eliminating house mice before ending with “Thanks for your help.” By the way, recently members of various web groups (not ours yet) have been receiving emails “warning” them that their group is shutting down (usually because of spam!) and urging them to click a link to move to an improved version or similar. I haven’t seen this happen here since email addresses aren’t easily visible, but it’s something people should keep in mind as it occurs elsewhere. Tom

It’s a shame we can’t just destroy them. I often browse early in the morning and spot new spam posts while they’re still active; when that happens, I find myself wishing for a button to press that would melt their CPUs. Lately, I’ve been considering setting up a [voluntary] bot-net to track down spammers and subject them to DDOS attacks or similar measures. We need a more aggressive stance rather than just sitting back in defense. Many years ago, long before the internet became what it is today, I read a science fiction novel that accurately foresaw our current predicament but portrayed it with even better VR technology than we have now. Despite that difference, it was remarkably prescient. If only I could recall the author and book title.

It might have been Neal Stephenson, or perhaps that other fellow I can never quite remember.