FAQ 12: Spam and Spoof

Why write this FAQ? It's first because people love to jump to conclusions. It's also because you are more inclined to believe the first thing you hear than the second thing that contradicts it. If you don't understand what I just said, I hope you do by the end of this FAQ. This FAQ will continue with easy things first. Let's jump right in, then.

This section will explain what viruses are and are not. The information presented is based on several sources.

It is common for kids on the internet to make up stories in order to gain a sense of importance or have a little fun. One example of such a story is, "If you get an e-mail saying blah blah, don't open it. It is a virus. Now send this message to everyone you know."

Now there are certainly real virus concerns when it comes to e-mail. However, it just happens that this case isn't one of them. Instead, mail asking you to "send this message to everyone you know" are typically hoaxes, usually with false or misleading information.

Now someone doesn't know much about computers might understandably believe this message along with the more misleading messages conveyed. It is never because that person is dumb or gullable; most times the person is simply being a trusting human being and doesn't know enough about viruses. For that reason, the next section goes into this area.

Another way to verify the integrity of a program is to get a referral from a reliable site. Sites like Tucows check all of their recommendations for viruses.

Once again, beware of files sent to you, even by people with good intentions. Very often viruses are passed around by people who never know they have a virus (many times between friends). Once Casahobo sent me a small text game for me to play, and I actually examined the instructions of the program before I executed it. ;)

Lastly, to give you some better perspective on this, the two most reported viruses are Stoned and Jerusalem. The two combined make up the majority of all virus infections, and they are both relatively old viruses. The reason why they make up such a large number of virus infections is that they are passed unintentionally. In other words, the most likely way for you to get them is to get them from a friend. On the other hand, the vast majority of viruses are rather rare, and they would usually be passed to you if you downloaded a program from someone you shouldn't have trusted.

On occasion someone will tell you things about a program that do not appeal to your common sense. Caution is one thing, but do not be gullable. The person often will have good intentions. With that disclaimer, let us go over a few hypothetical situations that are clearly exaggerations of what you might really see. Note: The following case descriptions involve some amount of satire, so be ready for some sarcasm ;).

Do not use program "R"! It spies on your computer and sends the contents of your bookmark to the makers of the program. They are a highly respected company, their only motive is to make money, and what I allege is clearly illegal. But ignore those facts; they are beside the point. When they get your bookmark file they will have their paid specialist go over it, visiting the links to see if there are any links to blackmail you with. Ignore the fact that they need countless specialists to go through the tens or hundreds of thousands of bookmark files they get this way and that anything they obtain is worthless to them since it is illegal. Also ignore the fact that this program has been out for some time and that if they were really doing this they would get sued out of business in a scandal.

Once again, this is clearly an exaggeration to make a point. It depicts a case where someone makes serious allegations about a program that are certainly not true. If you were not aware, it is based on a real message.

Do not use program "N"! They found a security breach in it and it will jeapordize all your transactions. The article I read didn't say this, but if we don't speculate, we'll all be victimized. The article also mentions two previous security breaches, one of which was likely more serious than this one. Also, those previous security breaches never amounted to anything, and the makers of "N" always took their time when fixing the problem because it wasn't ever a big deal. Still, think of the possibilities!

This is the reason for Rule of Acquisition 20...

Jade board has been spammed for as long as I can remember, and at least in my opinion this board has only improved. It used to be that I would visit Jade board every month or two because posts were so uncommon. However, by the start of this year, I could hardly keep up even when I visit once or twice a day, and it has continued to be this busy since. While spamming isn't too big a deal to me, it is important to others, which is for whom I write this seciton.

By usenet convention, spam is either:
a) a message repeatedly posted on purpose with little or no modification
b) unwanted or off-topic commercial advertising

Many people defend spam by saying that it is "free speech". However, spam by definition is the exact opposite of free speech. It is the equivalent of shouting in public so that no one can hear what anyone else has to say. Since spam makes it harder for people to read what others have to say, it is annoying at best and censorship at the worst.

To deal with spam, consider the reason for spamming. Here are a few typical reasons why people spam:

1. The spammer hopes to generate visitors to their site and make money off of ads on that site.
2. The spammer has a worthless site and can't find anyone normally willing to waste their time at the site.
3. The spammer doesn't know any other way to get people interested in their site.
4. The spammer doesn't think anyone will take them seriously or pay attention unless they repeat their message.
5. The spammer needs to vent his sexual frustrations.

I have personally seen countless spammers fitting each category. ;)

A bulletin board is there to facilitate discussion and hopefully help people out. However, it is not your only option.

Personally, I find Usenet to be the best place to obtain on-topic information. Good servers don't have much spam (in some groups it's undetectable), and you can reach out to far more people than is possible through a message board. Aside from Usenet, there are plenty of other alternatives as well, and if you do not restrict yourself to a single message board, you'll find that spam really isn't a big deal.

Now if a board gets spammed, you have every right to feel upset. You may feel that you must do something to right the wrong. However, before you say anything you might regret, please consider why the spammer is spamming and whether or not what you might say will help.

In the past, the main reason spammers used to come to Mr. X's BBS is because it was located on a couple of large link pages. If you checked these lists, his page was one of the top out of thousands of other sites. Spammers go to those listed near the top to see if they can spam there. Since spammers aren't often bright, they're willing to spam anywhere.

Since that time, spammers have come from various other sources as well. Unfortunately, they don't realize spamming doesn't give them many meaningful hits, because few of the visitors to thier pages have any real interest. Fortunately, the more experienced spammers don't spam at Jade anymore because at one point they did realize it was a waste of their time. ;)

If someone does spam, it is usually better not to draw attention to the spam by flaming the spammer. Instead of adding to the clutter, a small note pointing out the spam will do, making sure that anyone reading the board from top to bottom will be warned about the spam. Try not to draw any extra attention to the spam than necessary. Instead, it's best to direct the focus of the message board back at on-topic discussions so that other visitors can better ignore the message. Also, by continuing discussion, you will hopefully push the spam further down and out of view. ;)

If the only thing you want to do is warn others against a particular spam message, then you might also want to add something to compensate for the space you might take up, like a url or tip, whichever you prefer. ;)

If spam does get to be a continuous problem, usually one person or another will contact the site being spammed for and determine an appropriate response. When doing so, always consider the situation from their point of view. The two things that would deter them from spamming is if they feel like they're wasting their time or if their boss slaps them over the head. The first option is much easier (and the second isn't always possible).

Since a spammer often doesn't care about what others think of their spam, posting a message expressing your anger will feel good but might not be effective.

In any case, think of it this way. I used to spend over a hundred times as much time hearing and responding to complaints about spam than the spam itself. What do I mean? It takes me a fraction of a second to ignore spam (it's easy when you see the same spam repeatedly). In contrast, I actually read and sometimes respond to complaints. Fortunately, this has changed since I last wrote this FAQ, and nowadays I see less complaints.

If the page being spammed for doesn't stop spamming, take a look at what type of site it is. If the site is hosted by another service, you can easily complain to the service. Be sure to include a copy of the spam message with your e-mail. The effectiveness of this method depends on what service it is and the nature of the hosting.

If the site has sponsors, contact their sponsors and explain to them why most of the visits being generated are worthless (if you trick someone into visiting your site, they're not very likely to spend money on your services).

If the site has counters ranking them with other sites, contact the administrator of the counter and explain that the site is spamming. Most such ranking counters have strict policies against inflating hits.

Alternatively, you can e-mail spam to the spammers for fun...it's not usually appropriate but in some cases it can be pretty fun. ;)

If I were to get involved I would probably send e-mail telling them that advertising using banners is far better than spamming will ever achieve. I would also give them links to the most sucessful pay sites and point out why they don't spam. Money and time are pretty much the only reasoning that they will listen to.

Sometimes a person who "spams" is doing so just to sabatoge a board. Such a person I will refer to as a Mongrel, a mixture of a spammer and a troll. Before I go into this, please see the Troll section.

So, here is a summary of what you can do:

1. Contact the spammer.
2. Contact their webpage provider (Geocities, Fortunecity, etc...) if applicable.
3. Contact their administrator (the person in charge of the network) if applicable.
4. Contact their sponsors (look for any ads or banners on the site) if applicable.
5. If they have counters that are provided by an outside service, contact them as well.
6. Forward any spam you recieve to the spammer or his administrator.

Here is the easiest way to spot a troll.

A troll has a big mouth but small ears and mind. Here are the Rules of Trolling:

1. I am right.
2. You are wrong.

I think it is self-explanatory. ;)

These are true of a typical troll:

1. The primary motivation of a troll is to get attention. It is necessary for their survival, and without it, they are nothing.
2. Legend has it that Trolls are humans that suffer from a mixture of depression and an illness known as testosterome poisoning. ;)
3. In an attempt to get this attention, most trolls will visits a message boards or newsgroups and in intentionally make inflammatory posts. They hope to get attention this way in the form of angry responses.

As an example of the third point, a troll might say, "Jews killed Jesus because they worship Satan. Heil Hitler." If this person doesn't sincerely believe this, then they are a troll. In such a case, the troll is merely trying to attract attention.

Alternatively, a troll might simply spam the board with clutter (which makes them both a troll and a spammer). Such trolls are also only looking for attention, and it makes the troll feel special and important if people respond to his message, even if those responses are highly negative. In this case, the troll will also say that they are justified in spamming. For example, they might say "I am better than you." or "You hurt my feelings". Obviously, this is only an excuse, even if the troll fools himself into believing it.

If someone makes a serious post or comment, then it isn't necessarily trolling, even if the comment angers many people. However, if the comment is insincere or just a cheap attempt at attention, then it is trolling. I hope that you can tell the difference. ;)

If the person's post is serious, then it shouldn't be a problem to respond to it. However, to keep message boards and newsgroups on-topic, try to keep your response as short as possible. Also, whenever possible try to end the discussion there, so that it doesn't drag on.

Thumpers are a specific type of troll that might be worth mention. Thumpers are trolls who troll based on a specific set of beliefs, most often a religion.

To see how many newsgroups deal with thumpers, see one such satirical article here:
pupv0311.txt

Just as Elvis and Princess Di have their impersonators, many others will inevitably have them as well. ;)

Like Trolls, impersonators are often the result of testosterome poisoning.

I am impersonator. Since no one likes me, I pretend to be someone else. I am so powerful. It only took me 3rd grade to learn how to spell someone else's name. No please don't ignore this message. If you do, I will not feel important. Please?

This also typically results from testosterome poisoning.

Case 1:
I have magic wand. Watch me wave it. I am logging information about you by waving this magic wand. That is because the webmaster of this page is my slave. I will close this site down in a week with my magic wand. Nevermind that I said it would happen last week and the month before; this time it is for real. I have these powers because I wished, and wishing makes things true. ;) Every single person who visits this site is one of my secret spies, so ignore them. They are my spies because I am powerful. Ignore the fact that if they really were my spies I would not be warning you. Ignore the fact that I am a 6th grade brat. As I was saying, do not visit this message board just because. Please? Ignore the fact that I visit this message board myself every day.

Case 2:
You loser. I winner. I feel good now. Let me wave my wand.

This is funny considering these people typically can't spell very well. I wonder why the FBI would bother to spam the board or leak out information about their investigation as they do (which is a serious offense). I'd also think that they can tell the difference between the US and Japan. Oh yes, and according o my sources impersonating the FBI is a serious criminal act.

Now a lot of people get mad at such kids and rightfully so. Still, I find it best just to have a good laugh and move on. After all, the guy must be some goofball if he wastes his time pretending to be in the X-Files to feel important.

Apparently the FBI is the most commonly used example by trolls, though I have also heard of other organizations around the world being cited. ;) It also seems funny when some people outside the US can be more aware of US laws than those who impersonate the FBI from within the US. So, the following explanation might be useful to you. Don't take my word for it; if you doubt me, research this yourself.

In particular, if the police break into a house without a warrant or a legitimate emergency, all evidence obtained is void. This has been ruled by the Supreme Court of the US without reservation. It has been consistently upheld to this date. Furthermore, if any evidence resulting from the evidence is obtained, it is also void. For example, if they break in unlawfully and find a key that says "Mr. X's Key to all the murder evidence - locker #252 blah blah" and the police open the locker and find a scrapbook documenting a gruesome murder with all the evidence including a picture of the person holding the bloody knife while standing over the dead body, they cannot use it. They can never use it, even if they would have found this anyways. That was also clearly stated in the Supreme Court ruling.

Now you might ask, why is it so ridiculously strict? It is because at one point the police would sieze such things illegally and simply defend themselves by saying, "Oh, we would have found it anyways." Some police even literally broke into houses to steal evidence, which was of course outrageous and illegal. This naturally pissed off a lot of judges and the police are no longer allowed to do it.

Still don't see my point? Let me get specific with a true story. One day the police said, "Look, a black man. Let's search him. If we find something, we'll be doing society a favor. If we find nothing on him and he's completely innocent, let's beat him senseless anyways, hyuk hyuk." Of course, they didn't say "a black man", but I'm sure you get the point.

Now most policemen are fine and honest citizens, so I am only citing a very small minority. Nonetheless, this small minority of police were considered by the justices as a threat to society, which influenced their ruling. The justice who wrote the decision made a reference to the bible, where fruit obtained from a bad tree is also bad. That is why evidence merely linked to illegally siezed evidence cannot be used either.

For more background information, try researching some cases yourself.

Beware of jumping to conclusions. Suppose a person prematurely jumps to a conclusion and new evidence later surfaces in contradiction. This person would be reluctant to change their premature conclusion, because like the average person, he is probably stubborn and proud.

As an example of this, when Socrates proved his fellow Athenians wrong time and time again, they sentenced him to death. When Jesus did the same, the Romans nailed him up. When Galileo pointed out the obvious, the "holy" Catholic Church inimidated and threatened him for spreading the devil's lies. In other words, people who are wrong don't like to hear the truth; once they accept a lie, they are reluctant to change their mind and in some extreme cases kill because of a lie.

A real example: A person tries to contact a webpage and gets a "connection timeout" error. They conclude that "I am being censored" and speculate that "Someone is watching me." Now I knew that this was certainly not the case, and I could have responded, "You fool! Do you really think you're important enough to spy on? Listen to me and slap yourself a few times. Now come to your senses; these errors happen to everyone and shouldn't really be much of a surprise at all!" Of course, I didn't say such a rude and incosiderate thing. Instead I said, "Oh, that usually just means that the website is busy. I get that every now and then and for all sorts of pages. Often the error will go away if you just wait and reload." The method of reply is relevant because the person is more likely to respond positively in the second case.

Note that if the person had originally asked, "What does connection timeout mean?" and I responded that it usually just means the website is buy, they would probably believe me without much doubt. However, because this person jumped to such a conclusion initially, they were skeptical of my reassurances because they didn't want to take back what they had said. The person once again said that they still believed the error message meant that he was being censored and spied on. Now in such a case, be understanding and don't argue. If further reasoning doesn't work, then let the person be as they wish. Given time they'll get over it and realize the truth, without you having to hurt their pride.

In case you didn't know, a "connection timeout" error happens when you contact a server but it doesn't respond within a certain amount of time. The vast majority of the time, it's simply because the server is busy or is temporarly down (though there are other common reasons too).

Long ago someone named Jesus said something to the effect, "If a blind man follows a blind man, they will both fall into the ditch." The credibility of the people and sources that you rely upon is very important. After all, some ditches are pretty deep. ;)

So, I'll continue with another real example that will hopefully be self-explanatory. Here is an excerpt of one of my responses to a certain "w" who was concerned with a particular allegation:

Before I go on, I should say that what is alleged is certainly possible. However, it is also possible for the FBI to kick down your door without a warrant, search your house, and then kill you. You can bet that neither will ever happen. This form of speculation does not benefit anyone; it only distracts everyone from worrying about things that actually do matter or are likely to happen.

Here is another excerpt from that same response (but directed towards "m"). It cites one of countless cases where speculation is merely speculation:

Before I was even born, microphones existed that could record a conversation miles away (by focusing in a very specific direction).

However, using such a microphone to spy on the public is like looking for a needle in a haystack full of thorns. In other words, you're far more likely to find out someone's credit card number than something illegal. In addition, a warrant is required for such activity, so it would never be performed at random to probe into private locations. Public locations are a different matter, though there are common sense limits as to how far surveillance can go.

If some stranger warns me about something, then I will keep their warning in mind. However, I will not take the warning seriously until my own sources tell me otherwise. This has nothing to do with whether or not the warning is valid, it is just a reaonsable precaution. I've seen hundreds of unusual warnings before, and the vast majority (if not every single one) were untrue. So as I often say, I am always insanely skeptical of everything.

If someone has little or no credibility, then simply keep what they say in mind. Please do not jump to conclusions either way. Any lie can sound true, and any truth can seem a lie.

For example, a good liar will always try to throw in a few truths (most of which are completely irrelevant). They will also speculate things that are hard to disprove, without giving any supporting evidence.

Likewise, the truth can seem a lie. For example, I do not bluff when playing cards. Yet I often win. You see, I might smile when I get a good hand, and the other players would think, "Ahah, he's bluffing!" Then I take their money. I would sometimes even say, "I have a very good hand" (which is the truth), and they would be fooled by the truth into thinking I was bluffing. I wonder when they'll learn. ;)

Anyways, this is why you shouldn't jump to conclusions either way.

Notice why these FAQs are so long. They are long because I give many explanations. If I simply said, "Do this, do that," all my FAQs could easily fit into one file with the size of an average FAQ. For example, instead of saying just the two words "Don't trade," I give a multi-paragraph explanation. It is my responsibility to convice you that my advice is at least reasonable. Otherwise, I might be trying to fool you into doing something wrong. If I or anyone else tell you something that doesn't appeal to common sense, investigate further. Take my word for it only at your own risk.

Suppose the weather man says that there is a 80% chance of rain. Someone then asks you, "Will it rain tomorrow?" If you simply say, "Yes, it will rain," then you are probably right. However, you will apparently be wrong roughly 20% of the time.

Now you might ask, "Wait, who cares if I'm wrong 20% of the time? That's not that bad!" Well, that is definitely true if you're only casually talking about the weather, which is usually the case. However, if you're talking about the probability of a significant event, such as how likely your going to get hurt, you're going to want to know exactly what the odds are, instead of something misleading like "yes" or "no". Now suppose someone asks your friend, "Will it rain tomorrow?" Your friend might also say "Yes, it will rain." If the other person says, "Are you sure?" this friend might explain that he doesn't know for sure, but quite often they might just reply, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure." That's one (out of many) problems you'll encounter when information is passed from person to person.

Now suppose that 20% of the information in these FAQs was false. You might get good information 80% of the time, but the other 20% could hurt you. So, at least saying, "It will probably rain," "It should rain," or "There is a good chance it will rain," will be better than simply, "Yes, it will rain" or "No, it will not rain." Even better, you can say exactly how sure you are, such as "According to the weather man, there is an 80% chance of rain." Appendix
Stereotype Chart
3rd grade - impersonator
4th grade - typical spammer
5th grade - spammer that can spell
6th grade - wand waver
7th grade - FBI impostor

If the person can spell, add 1 grade.
If the person uses good grammar, add 1-3 grades.
If the person is polite, he has at least graduated High School.

-Ramses

I write these FAQs in hopes it will benefit and educate you, so as always, feel free to correct me and add your own suggestions. You may remain anonymous or allow me to credit you with the suggestion (I will assume the former but definitely feel free to volunteer the use of your nick in the credits of the FAQ)