4 posts tagged “spamming”

History repeats itself: get me off this list!

Feb 11, 2009
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Blogging got Ziff–Davis’s attention in 2007. Maybe it will again. Today, I wrote the following email to the company, quoting the bottom of one of their newsletters first.

At 09.00 AM 2009.2.11, you wrote:

If you have already registered for this eSeminar, please ignore this message. If you have problems with your registration, please e-mail: eSeminars@ziffdavisenterprise.com
You are receiving this eSeminars update because you provided your email address to Ziff Davis Enterprise.
If you no longer wish to receive updates from Ziff Davis Enterprise eSeminars, unsubscribe here.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

You are right, I once did provide my email address to Ziff–Davis. In the 1990s. At the time, Heather Locklear was hot, Chrysler was profitable, and no one had heard of Monica Lewinsky.
   This century, I removed my subscriptions to all Ziff–Davis newsletters, because I was sick of receiving some I had never subscribed to.
   ZD once had a page where all its newsletters were listed, with a check option beside each one. I unchecked them all.
   For a while, the emails stopped. They then began again without warning. I went to your removal page and noted that nothing was checked.
   CIO began spamming me in July 2005 with a ‘complimentary subscription’. Baseline spam started in December 2006. Eweek began in March 2007. Ziff–Davis event emails began in March 2007 as well.
   One of your staff, Mary Hart, went through a lengthy process with me to get my name off every ZD mailing list and those of your contractors after I publicized by unhappiness with your spamming in March 2007. Beginning around March 22 that year, she checked one list, and I was not on it. Then another spam came. She checked another list. Eventually, after going through this over a few months, she assured me that there was no way I would wind up on another mailing list from your company.
   I believe I was spam-free as far as ZD was concerned in 2008.
   I am disappointed that your spam has restarted in 2009. I cannot believe I have spent so many years with this problem—even though I removed myself in the first half of this decade.
   I must insist that you no longer spam me. I have followed your removal instructions—but long experience tells me that that is useless without human intervention.

Sincerely,

Jack Yan

Has Vox ﬁxed its splog problem?

Nov 22, 2008
1 comment

After each posting to Vox I noticed that ‘Recent posts’ was ﬁlled with splogs, spam blogs. I have been reporting a lot to Vox, and wasn’t sure if they did anything with my reports. Others I know, who are friends here, have done the same.
Today, I noticed something refreshing: no splogs at all among the ‘Recent posts’! I hope this wasn’t a fluke, but that Vox has genuinely ﬁxed this problem. Maybe it went and deleted all the blogs associated with a certain group of IPs, or it has been able to tell which were started by spambots.
Also notice, for the type geeks out there, the kerning in Firefox! I see Vo and Yo combinations below. I even enjoy typing YouTube for the kerns in Yo and uTu in my default Lucire sans serif typeface.

Vox fixes splog problem

The phony Better Business Bureau complaint

Aug 30, 2007
4 comments

This is a new one as far as phishing and spamming goes. I see plenty Nigerian scams (at least five a day) and fake bank and Ebay ones. But the Better Business Bureau?
Business owners, be warned. And scammers: don’t hit a CEO who remembers each one of his clients at this division off by heart.

Received: (qmail 20244 invoked from network); 29 Aug 2007 02:53:00 -0500
Received: from fe.e9.5646.static.theplanet.com (HELO hazel.phpwebhosting.com) (70.86.233.254)
by 192.168.1.211 with SMTP; 29 Aug 2007 02:53:00 -0500
Received: (qmail 28666 invoked by uid 99); 29 Aug 2007 07:48:34 -0000
Date: 29 Aug 2007 07:48:34 -0000
To: [Omitted]
Subject: [SPAM] BBB Complaint for Jack Yan [Case id: #8763cea8a4ec561bc12d225f1b1c9b25]
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: CF1AD1@bbb.com
Reply-To: A82845@bbb.com
Content-Type: multipart/related;
boundary="=_aac2ae612d81d07b20aa7471e6c078d5"
Message-ID:
X-MSKTag: [SPAM]
X-MSK: SF=0x20

Dear Mr./Mrs. Jack Yan (JY&A Consulting)

You have received a complaint in regards to your business services.
Use the link below to view the complaint details:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AND VIEW DOCUMENTS FOR CASE #D606BF

Complaint Case Number: D606BF
Complaint Made by Consumer Mrs. Marcia E. Worthington
Complaint Registered Against: Jack Yan of JY&A Consulting
Date: 05/14/2007/

Instructions on how to resolve this complaint as well as a copy of the original complaint can be obtained using the link below:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AND VIEW DOCUMENTS FOR CASE #D606BF

Disputes involving consumer products and/or services may be arbitrated. Unless they directly relate to the contract that is the basis of this dispute, the following claims will be considered for arbitration only if all parties agree in writing that the arbitrator may consider them:
Claims based on product liability;
Claims for personal injuries;
Claims that have been resolved by a previous court action, arbitration, or written agreement between the parties.

The decision as to whether your dispute or any part of it can be arbitrated rests solely with the BBB.

The BBB offers its members a binding arbitration service for disputes involving marketplace transactions. Arbitration is a convenient, civilized way to settle disputes quickly and fairly, without the costs associated with other legal options.

Where I come from, this is called spamming

Mar 23, 2007
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I swear I never signed up to anything from Ziff–Davis’s Eweek, yet here I am, receiving their spam. And it’s not the first time I have had something from this firm, which I always took to be respectable. Hence, today, I had to write.

Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:55:42 +0000
To: wbg@enews.webbuyersguide.com
From: Jack Yan
Subject: Re: Running a managed services business: The fundamentals
In-Reply-To: <20070322124922.3DEC4D53026E7@smtp.enews.webbuyersguide.com>
Hi guys:
For the last few weeks, each time I unsubscribe from a Ziff–Davis mailing, I find I am automatically put on to another one. I unsub from that, and then find myself on another one. What's happening?! Can you please just stop sending me these, and not subscribe me to anything else?! Remove means remove!
Sincerely,
Jack Yan

   The only Ziff–Davis newsletter I ever subbed to was for Publish magazine, and that’s it. I’m sick of having to go to the company’s site to unsubscribe myself from newsletters I have not even heard of. In fact, I’m removing myself from anything from their company, effective today.
   These weird ones began when CIO began spamming me in July 2005 with a ‘complimentary subscription’. Baseline spam started in December 2006. Eweek began in March 2007. Ziff–Davis event emails began in March 2007 as well.
   If anyone from Ziff–Davis is reading: remove means remove. Don’t keep spreading my email address all over your corporation.

PS.: Well, that was amazing. Mary Hart from Ziff–Davis read this, and instantly responded. Now, that’s someone who cares about the company. I have to say I am impressed by their taking responsibility. It’s very easy for those of us outside the US to presume the worst in corporate behaviour, and this really helps restore a little bit of that old reputation.

We received a Google notification about your blog on March 22nd regarding spam from the Ziff Davis Web Buyer’s Guide. I checked our system and noted that the same day you posted that blog, you successfully unsubscribed from the Channel Update (which you were on as a former member of Publish); Publish, CIO Insight and Web Professional s. I’ll go one step further and completely remove your information from the newsletter system so that you don’t ever receive any unwanted mailings from us again.