We tweaked the settings as the spam bots changed their style but for at least a couple of months we had quite a few get through which was annoying. When BBC News ran an article on reCAPTCHA I thought this would be ideal both to stop our spam problem and help decode old books. It provides an easy-to-use CAPTCHA solution which also has tools to help blind people get around them using audio tools.

This spam fighting tool also helps decipher old books since it shows two words, one of which it recognises. It doesn’t know what the other word says, so by solving the two words you prove that you’re human, and help digitise books by deciphering the other word.

It does present some words which are a little bit too difficult to read.. The one above isn’t too bad, but illustrates the potential problem. You can refresh it to another word pair of course.

My blog doesn’t receive that much spam but since my inbox is full enough as it is, cutting out every last one would be idea, so it’s now implemented on my blog too for comments, thanks to the plug-in for Wordpress.

We all hate spam. It clogs up our mailboxes, wastes our time in sorting what is and is not a legitimate e-mail and costs us money in wasted traffic and solutions to try and curb its increasing impingement into our lives.

I tend to report spam to the service providers who allow their networks to be used to relay spam or otherwise allow their network to be used by spammers. Recently one spammer (who’se identity I’ll keep off this blog in the hope they’ve now learned their lesson) got in touch with me about a comment I made on a website about their business (after their service provider shut down their service). The e-mail read:

Dear Seb

My name is [name removed] – Sales Manager at [company removed], I have seen you recent comments posted on a website with regards our marketing, may I ask would it of been more professional to have discussed them with us 1st rather than posting in public? We are a proper business that is finding our feet and your comments do not assist the business industry, I await your comments on this matter.

Best regards

[name removed]

To say I was surprised to see an e-mail from a spammer complaining at my criticism of their marketing tactics is an under statement. I certainly didn’t expect to be expected to explain why spam was bad, but in hope I might educate someone as to the errors of their ways, I duly obliged.

[name removed],

It is against the terms and conditions/acceptable use policy of almost every Internet Service Provider including [name of their isp removed] to send unsolicited commercial e-mail/spam yet I’ve received over seven spam e-mails from you.

Most of your e-mails are over 200K.. Do you appreciate downloading one of those large e-mails in full whilst abroad on a GPRS connection could easily cost £2.50 (per e-mail!) nevermind filling up the mailboxes of many people who don’t want to receive them.

Spamming is an antisocial activity and quite correctly service providers are stopping their networks being abused in this way.

You might want to read this site.. If you send this to a personal e-mail address you could be sued in UK courts:

http://www.scotchspam.org.uk/

If you are new in business then I suggest you re-examine your marketing policies because the more you spam the more damage you will do to your brand.

Regards,

Sebastien

So I thought to myself that this would be the end of the matter, and the spammer would probably continue on their ways without changing their tactics, but at least they might take me off their list.

However, the spammer replied once more and now tried to persuade me he wasn’t a spammer.. This is what he said:

Don’t get me wrong I do understand your point but would an approach to a legimate English company not have been better direct rather than taking the seemingly nasty route of trying to stall our business?

I proceeded to explain that reporting spammers to ISPs was a very common response (well it’s not common enough to put a stop to things but it does happen on a regular basis) explaining the spamming was antisocial:

Reporting spamming to ISPs is a very common practice as otherwise spammers just remove one address from the list, rather than stopping their activity and use legitimate marketing methods. Spamming is antisocial behaviour and it’s not enough for you to stop sending those e-mails to me.. You should stop that behaviour outright. [..]

The sooner you get the message spamming is wrong, the better. Go and read the acceptable use policy for [e-mail provider name removed] l and see if it mentions spamming.. I bet it does.

Then in a move which made me feel like I had actually achieved something, he replied back saying he had learnt his lesson, only then to express his concern that it’s the “real spammers” who send viruses who give e-mail marketers like him a bad name. (Hello?! Didn’t you send me unsolicited e-mail I never asked for about services I would never buy from you?)

Be assured we have learnt our lesson and we are exploring other avenues of marketing, the only problem for a new business is they all cost money, the reason for e-mailing is so I can hear your views as it is important to learn from mistakes.

Are we being penalised because of real spammers who e-mail viruses and so like, if these weren’t around would it be more acceptable for legimate companies to do e-mail marketing?

Would this individual ever realise that he was a real spammer not just a mistaken individual.. I was about to have my final rant:

[..] I’m not quite sure what you mean by “real spammers”.. What you did was real spamming.. Viruses are actually a lot easier to filter.. It’s the spams that can’t be automatically detected that cost the most in UK companies.

E-mail marketing has to be confirmed “opt-in”.. i.e. the recipient has REQUESTED to receive the e-mails and you have confirmed they are who they say they are (e.g. to avoid someone randomly adding an e-mail address to the list.. the confirmation is far more significant in online sign-ups).

Unfortunately, starting a business costs money. You have to build up a reputation.. [..] There are plenty of marketing opportunities out there which don’t involve clogging up the inboxes of everyone most of whom will have no interest whatsoever in leasing a car from you. [..]

His final reply thanked me for my time and said he would take my comments on board.

I hope this exchange of e-mails has turned one bad guy into a good guy in the eternal war on spam.

If you send unsolicited e-mail, you are a real spammer. It’s not just the viagra touting people who cost us money!