Monday, September 19, 2005

Re[20]:

I'm currently passing through one of my periodic episodes of blog doubt and easing up on my output. One of the benefits of that easing up is that I have more 'on PC' time to devote to all those little housekeeping chores I've been meaning to do.

I've just spent an enjoyable 15 minutes sorting through my collection of Best Ever Spam Email sender names and I've attached some of the fruits of my labours as a screenshot.

My experience of spam is restricted to being a consumer rather than a generator but it seems clear that one of the essential requirements of effective spam to come up with the most bizarre sender names you can think of. Obviously the subject line is important and must serve the dual purpose of being both eye-catching and able to slip past spam filters but a really good sender name is the cherry on the cake. And it's hats off to the unnamed geniuses who came up with Englebert Snyder, Apollonija Quintero, Sergio Woody and Tourniquet E. Roomful.

There's a PhD thesis on spam out there waiting to be written and what it tells us about the human condition. Discounting the obvious tricky trickster subject titles such 'Re[20]', 'You left your coat' or 'Did you get my...' the bulk of spam subject titles seek to draw attention by playing on those things that concern us most. It comes as no surprise that those things are not particularly altruisitic or important.

But, speaking as a man with a small, eternally floppy penis with an unhappy sexual partner and who genuinely believes that wearing fake watches paid for by working at home for an hour or two a day will make people respect him more, I think spam is great and I, for one, can't get enough of it

6 comments:

Dom said...

I'm always flattered by my 'friends at the penis enlargement clinic'

Anonymous said...

Yes looking through my company's SPAM folder I have discovered a rich supply of character names for any fiction I care to write or alternatively aliases I may care to assume.

Yours faithfully
Aviva Baumgartner
aka
Reinhilde Wohlwend
aka
Dagrun Larochelle
aka
Jamsheed Valdivia


PS Get Viagra cheap here http://www.countravetim.com

Sparkling said...

Spam has come a long way since the war. Back then it came in tins, and probably on rations...

I always wondered what the name generators you find online where for. My viking name is: Kisi Wartooth

Stef said...

...Bild the Hairy

ziz said...

Delta Gamea Poka


But seriously, is Kate Moss damaged by this revelation ? Is she a beautiful survivor ?

Ryan said...

Diddo to that! I love getting spam. You know what's worse than getting spam? Getting NO mail.

...that's just depressing.