Viability of Spam

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Viability of Spam

Dimitri

9:15 am on Jul 19, 2019 (gmt 0)

System: The following 3 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/webmasterworld/4954245.htm [webmasterworld.com] by engine - 3:54 pm on Jul 19, 2019 (utc +1)

The advantage of spam, is that it tells you which sites / businesses to avoid ...

engine

9:36 am on Jul 19, 2019 (gmt 0)

Hehe, yes, I've spotted a few business sectors to steer clear of.

Dimitri

10:52 am on Jul 19, 2019 (gmt 0)

Which raises the question of the profitability of spam.

To "me", spam = no matter if the service / site / product is good for real, I will never buy / use it, just because of the promotional method.

But, since spam exists and is more and more important, I assume that within the volume, it still generate conversions.

iamlost

4:10 pm on Jul 19, 2019 (gmt 0)

Just as the 'Nigerian prince with 30 million in gold to get out of the country' still lands the naive and greedy.

The benefit of the Internet is reach and volume. A tiny percentage of a great many millions is still a significant absolute number.

Dimitri

4:15 pm on Jul 19, 2019 (gmt 0)

Spam is (supposedly) very illegal in the EU, and again more with the GDPR , and the ePrivacy Directive (and it's upcoming new version). But, considering the amount of spam I receive (emails), I guess this is not deterrent, ... yes, I know, spammers are hiding their real identity, and often located in "exotic" countries, but still at the end , there is a business, a site, or a product, and the should be liable for the promotional methods that they are outsourcing ... which, ... again yes, might has a side effect, if you want to take down a concurrent ,you would be able to send spam under its name .. jungle life :)

NickMNS

4:26 pm on Jul 19, 2019 (gmt 0)

To "me", spam = no matter if the service / site / product is good for real, I will never buy / use it, just because of the promotional method.

The point of spam is rarely the promotion of any business or service, it's more common goal is to infect unsuspecting people's computers with malware, to then use those for malicious and or fraudulent criminal activity such as botnets and ad-click farms.

Look at all those green button ads, do you really think that anyone legitimately installs that stuff on their computers. No, they do it by mistake, because their distracted or whatever. But the point was not to get them to install PDF conversion software so that they can use it for years to come. The point was simply to get the users to install the malware hidden inside that software such that the malware can run on the victim's computer without the victim's knowledge for years to come.

Dimitri

5:18 pm on Jul 19, 2019 (gmt 0)

Look at all those green button ads

Beware, now they are blue ! ... seriously :) and I even saw some red. The thing is, the "few" companies behind this "browser helper" are public, so I am surprised they never get into troubles :).

tangor

1:44 am on Jul 20, 2019 (gmt 0)

The only problem I have with computer spam is it so maligned one of my favorite foods in a can that even grocery stores hide it from view!

I miss my Spam!

</humor with truth>

NickMNS

1:56 am on Jul 20, 2019 (gmt 0)

Try a Korean/Japanese supermarket. My local K-shop has a whole wall of spam products in a wide variety of sizes and formats I didn't even know existed.

lucy24

3:42 am on Jul 20, 2019 (gmt 0)

I even saw some red

How thoughtful of them.

Are they still really big on spam in Hawaii?

graeme_p

1:11 pm on Jul 20, 2019 (gmt 0)

I remember seeing a video from an infosec conference about spam pushing illiquid stocks/shares.

What the people presenting the video were doing was analysing spam to see what was being pushed. I think they profited by trading in it. The relevant bit was that enough people will invest their money on the basis on a spam email to influence prices.

Apart from this allowing spammers to profit without any direct contact with their victims, if people will invest their money because of spam, they will almost certainly buy because of spam.

Spam is cheap to send. They need a very low response rate.

engine

1:38 pm on Jul 20, 2019 (gmt 0)

Even with a low response rate, I'm still surprised that anyone responds at all. They must be the few that actually like emai spam. Crazy, eh!

JS_Harris

3:13 am on Jul 21, 2019 (gmt 0)

The only problem I have with computer spam is it so maligned one of my favorite foods in a can that even grocery stores hide it from view!

I miss my Spam!

</humor with truth>

Maybe your personal social rating isn't high enough to be allowed into the room that sells the spam in a can. Also humor with truth.