At 11:27 AM 4/18/03 -0500, gumbie tygress wrote:

>> Yahoo ACTIVELY participates.  
>
>does it, really? I should hate to fall into a false contusionoid.....

Last year?  Year before?  They sent out a message to anyone who was
registered in a Yahoo group or other site (like my soon-to-be son-in-law's
fantasy football league that became a family thing two years ago -- I guess
that's about when they sent the messages out, after the football season was
over) that they had adopted the policy that your registration information
was their property, a marketable commodity.  A whole floodgate of spam was
opened.  Gads, but I would love a law that says that any time anyone uses
my name without my knowledge or permission, they have to pay me a fee.
After all, it is MY name, not theirs g--dammit!

>> They deem your personal information to 
>> be
>> their property to do with as they wish, including providing it to 
>> "mass
>> marketers."  (Spammers, of course).  I try to avoid Yahoo like the 
>> plague.  
>
>well, I would, too -- but we DO need to keep up with Reid's Scouting
>schedule.

I'd be upset enough to ping on the Powers that Be (whoever's keeping the
schedule) to shift it to a less spam-infested venue, myself.  But that's
just me.  I'm getting old enough and crotchety enough that I am just so
sick and tired of having my time wasted by crap I care nothing about.  Does
that come from not having that much time left?   I dunno.  I'm getting to
the point where I'd be happy to spend my remaining time tracking down and
rubbing out spammers.

>> Why do such stupid people survive?  
>
>because the smart ones, in a potentially short sighted fit of
>self-preservation, killed off all the cave bears and dire wolves,
>installed air-bags and "crush" compartments, and made bicycle helmet

>mandatory.....

No, it's because people got lazy and stopped teaching their children about
responsibility and about having to deal with the consequences of their own
actions.

>> Seems that if they're this  stupid, they
>> ought to have died from their own idiocy long ago.
>
>except they are profiting by it -- even a 2% response is considered good.
>And spam is "cheap" to produce.

It's cheap, all right.  Downright tawdry at times.

>> Argh.  MORE CHLORINE FOR THE GENE POOL!
>
>nah, just a curse of Conscience

Phooey.  I'm disgusted enough to just want to get rid of them all.

>> Yeah, they try stuff like saying you have a delinquent account, too, 
>> and  they're stupid enough to think I'M stupid enough not to know who
>> my legitimate creditors are?  Oh, gads.
>
>They're probably paid by hits (on the target site). 
>But those should be considered criminal -- I just don't know whom to
>report them to. the 401 gov doesn't seem quite appropriate.

Well, they won't get paid because of me, that's for sure.  
   Wears out my pinkie, it does.  H'mmm . . . they're
causing me pain and anguish, and I'm a senior citizen.  Should be enough to
put 'em away for elder abuse!

>> The dolphins are getting smarter every day -- exponentially!
>
>that's only because keyboards short out in sea water.....

Heh!

>> >Absolutely mystified, I am, because I don't see the gain in the 
>> equation.
>> 
>> Neither do I.  I cannot imagine what they are getting out of it.  
>> Except
>> that there must be enough stupid people being suckered by this crap 
>> to keep  it going.  If there weren't, it wouldn't be so prolific.
>
>exactly
>same is true for telemarketing

That's another rant.    I got one this morning that made me so
mad, I sat down immediately and composed mail to my senators.  Argh!

>> God help us.
>
>I dunno, I kinda think avoiding the pit falls is part of the curriculae

Well, there's pitfalls and then there's damnably thoughtless stupid
time-wasting annoyance.  I deal with the former, but the latter makes me
homicidal.

>> >Oh well, if they're as dumb as they seem, they ought to be easier 
>> >to catch, eh? tygress
>> 
>> If they're as dumb as they seem, why are they still alive?
>
>because the sheep dogs among us are all too capable

Muzzles all around!  

>> Veloci--I don't get it--raptor
>
>Unfortunately, despite protestations, I get it a lot more than I wish I
>did, tygress

That's sad.

Veloci--in a way, I'm glad I don't get it--raptor

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