Spam Spam Spam!

Like most anyone who's ever been exposed to spam, I hate and loathe it. At this point I've all but abandoned what used to be my primary email account because it's just too painful to wade through the buckets of garbage to get the one or two messages I really want.

Spam, much like porn, has spread to every form of communication yet developed.

Print:	Check
Phone:	Check
TV:	Check
Internet:	Double Check!!
Cell phone text messaging:	Check

(Side note - In rather disturbing turn of events, lately I've even been seeing spam left in the comments on blogs. How low is that?)

That last one is both very new and very low. And I've received two (TWO!) in the last month! I received one tonight, even. And it was worse than normal spam. It was stock scam spam:

Subj: -Stock
Alert- :
Ticker: CRAP (not the real ticker)
160% price
jump over last
5 days, with
target of
$1.00 by end
of monday.
Presently at
$0.159. (CRAP)

First of all, in case you missed it, CRAP is not the real stock. I changed it since I have no wish to take the slightest risk of helping the slime who sent me this. I picked that particular fake ticker because I thought it was funny. I do not know if CRAP exists, and I in no way shape or form suggest you buy it.

Ok, now that I'm reasonably sure that no one will sue me...

Text message spam is evil. More evil than email spam, even. That's pretty evil! Why do I say that? Well, first of all, on most plans, each text message you receive actually costs you money! (usually around 10 cents) And if the message is sent over the internet (which these invariably are) there is no cost to the sender. 10 cents isn't that much, but 10 pieces of spam a day would be pretty moderate for email. If text message spam catches up that'd be a dollar a day, or about thirty bucks a month. Seems a bit much to pay for an inconvenience.

Text messages also demand attention. If SouthernKitten sends me a text message the interrupts class or even wakes me up, it's no big deal. I like SouthernKitten, I enjoy hearing from her. Expecting to see a nice little message from my girlfriend and receiving garbage is just plain annoying.

The ad I received in particular was just plain insulting. Clearly it's what is known as a "Pump and Dump". How stupid do you have to be to buy a stock based on random, anonymous recommendations that show up on your cell phone?!

So, basically, to sum up, SPAM BAD.