Article 14122 of alt.sex.cthulhu:
From: bs904@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Andrew Nellis)
Newsgroups: alt.sex.cthulhu
Subject: WAR JOURNAL: My battle with the spammers
Date: 9 Mar 1997 18:27:56 GMT



Day one:

Feeling tough, feeling good, feeling outraged.  I transfer every piece of
spam on alt.sex.cthulhu to my work directory and begin searching headers
for /actual/ addresses.  Discover that there are about 15 posters
responsible for 150 postings.  Action taken: E-mailed 15 post-masters, and
5 spammers.

Day two:

Got several form letters from AOL and one from Pacbell.  No response from
anyone else.  Did get a pile of junk e-mail.  Sent mail to 20 more
postmasters.  Frustration starting to build.

Day three:

Success!  E-mail from "Free Stamp spam" site indicates they are "keeping an
eye" on the the guy, and if it happens again, will turf him.  Another form
letter from AOL, this time from their "abuse" section.  Feeling cocky at
success, post message to alt.sex.cthulhu to crow.  Include letter from the
"Free Stamp spam" people.  Sent mail to 15 more postmasters.

Day four:

The horror!  The horror!  My alt.sex.cthulhu message boasting of my
battles with spammers -- has been CANCELLED.  Discover some Usenet
vigilante's cancelbot has cancelled my message and sent a complaint to my
postmaster because my message contained the 2-line text of the "Free
Stamp" advertisement within the text of the letter from the spammer's
host.  Reeling and on the ropes, I nonetheless send mail to 20 more
postmasters, as well as my OWN postmaster and one vigilante nitwit who
deleted the only /actual/ message that day in alt.sex.cthulhu and left
over a hundred spams untouched.

Day five:

Terse mail from my postmaster saying he will "look into it."  Whiny mail
from Usenet vigilante complaining that I obviously didn't appreciate his
efforts, that he was responsible for cancelling thousands of spams a day,
and that, in any case, my posting replies to the spammers wasn't going to
stop them.  At the end of his tirade, he includes a sulky "Sorry your
posting got caught."  Consider mailing him back to point out that I wasn't
posting a reply to spammers.  Decline to provoke the man with such blatant
logic, in case the REST of my postings go Missing In Action.  Sent mail to
twenty more postmasters.

Day six:

Supplies low.  Spirit drooping.  Decide not to do anything at all today
except lie in bed, read "Nero Wolfe" novels by Rex Stout, and eat crackers
with cheddar cheese and chicken-liverwurst-with-herbs pate.

Day seven:

Two replies from spammers, saying "sorry."  One letter from spammer
postmaster saying he'd "take care of it."  Spirits picking up.  Supplies
still low.  Decide to post message to alt.sex.cthulhu and see if anyone
will send me more chicken-liverwurst-with-herbs pate.

Er, that's it.


--
 +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ ...........................................
 |  Andrew Nellis              | ."When you see the crowd going one way,   .
 |  bs904@freenet.carleton.ca  | . run like hell in the other direction."  .
 +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ .................Charles Bukowski..........