Lutrov Communications Comments http://lutrov.com Simplify your business Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:13:56 +0000 Comment on Trust the Midas touch? by: Ivan http://lutrov.com/blog/trust-the-midas-touch/#comment-982 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:20:32 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/trust-the-midas-touch/#comment-982 <p>Tom, thanks for your contribution to this topic. To this date, I still haven't heard back from Midas, so I should just assume they're <strong>not</strong> prepared to <strong>confirm</strong> or <strong>deny</strong> that it was them who sent the spam.</p> <p>But I won't, as I still doubt it was them. I guess they're just too busy to answer, even after 1 month. That level of slothfulness is however a good future topic, which I'll keep in mind.</p> <p>What led you to the conclusion that AcquireLocal are the scumbags behind the Midas "campaign" in this instance?</p> Tom, thanks for your contribution to this topic. To this date, I still haven't heard back from Midas, so I should just assume they're not prepared to confirm or deny that it was them who sent the spam.

But I won't, as I still doubt it was them. I guess they're just too busy to answer, even after 1 month. That level of slothfulness is however a good future topic, which I'll keep in mind.

What led you to the conclusion that AcquireLocal are the scumbags behind the Midas "campaign" in this instance?

]]> Comment on Trust the Midas touch? by: Tom http://lutrov.com/blog/trust-the-midas-touch/#comment-981 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:26:47 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/trust-the-midas-touch/#comment-981 <p>After a little more research, I have found THIS COMPANY which is part of the whole spammer regime for these Midas ads...</p> <p><a href="http://www.acquirelocal.com/">http://www.acquirelocal.com</a></p> <p>They even have a "Privacy Policy" which includes this text:</p> <p>"Anti-Spam Statement AcquireLocal practices permission-based email marketing and as such complies with all aspects of the Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, <a href="http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html">http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html</a> "</p> <p>Yee ha!</p> <p>Tom</p> After a little more research, I have found THIS COMPANY which is part of the whole spammer regime for these Midas ads...

http://www.acquirelocal.com

They even have a "Privacy Policy" which includes this text:

"Anti-Spam Statement AcquireLocal practices permission-based email marketing and as such complies with all aspects of the Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html "

Yee ha!

Tom

]]> Comment on Trust the Midas touch? by: Tom http://lutrov.com/blog/trust-the-midas-touch/#comment-980 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:11:02 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/trust-the-midas-touch/#comment-980 <p>First off, my mother just got one of these Midas emails that not only had her name correct in the "TO:" area of the header, but also had my wife's name in the greeting of the letter, and had the city we live in correct (my mother is 1400 miles away!).</p> <p>Wild West Domains is NOT the owner of these domains, nor are they the company that sent you the email. They are a domain registrar that also provides a privacy service to people who buy domains through them. What they do is offer the service for an extra wad of cash for each domain you want to hide. Wild West Domains then hides your contact information for the domain so the average WHOIS lookup cannot see who the actual owner of the domain is. Pretty much guaranteeing them the ability to work and send you SPAM in complete anonymity.</p> <p>They do this so the average person (you and me) cannot innundate them with email and/or phone calls to their office (or shed in their backyard) telling them to stop sending you this stuff.</p> <p>Emailing the word UNSUBSCRIBE to the address provided wil most likely NOT get you removed from the list, but it will tell this mystery company (or person living in their parent's garage) that the email address is valid, and they have carte blanche to send you more crap. Then they will sell this validated list of email address to someone else so you can receive even more garbage.</p> <p>Just have these emails send to you junk folder and try to foget about them. That is about all you can do outside of getting a court order for Wild West Domains to give up the company's information.</p> <p>Tom</p> First off, my mother just got one of these Midas emails that not only had her name correct in the "TO:" area of the header, but also had my wife's name in the greeting of the letter, and had the city we live in correct (my mother is 1400 miles away!).

Wild West Domains is NOT the owner of these domains, nor are they the company that sent you the email. They are a domain registrar that also provides a privacy service to people who buy domains through them. What they do is offer the service for an extra wad of cash for each domain you want to hide. Wild West Domains then hides your contact information for the domain so the average WHOIS lookup cannot see who the actual owner of the domain is. Pretty much guaranteeing them the ability to work and send you SPAM in complete anonymity.

They do this so the average person (you and me) cannot innundate them with email and/or phone calls to their office (or shed in their backyard) telling them to stop sending you this stuff.

Emailing the word UNSUBSCRIBE to the address provided wil most likely NOT get you removed from the list, but it will tell this mystery company (or person living in their parent's garage) that the email address is valid, and they have carte blanche to send you more crap. Then they will sell this validated list of email address to someone else so you can receive even more garbage.

Just have these emails send to you junk folder and try to foget about them. That is about all you can do outside of getting a court order for Wild West Domains to give up the company's information.

Tom

]]> Comment on Ebay shill bidding by: PhilipCohen http://lutrov.com/blog/ebay-shill-bidding/#comment-979 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:14:54 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/ebay-shill-bidding/#comment-979 <p>eBay introduces absolute anonymity for (shill) bidders.</p> <p>In Australia, the UK, Ireland and the Philippines, eBay has obscured auction bidding to the point that genuine bidders have got absolutely no chance of detecting and thereby protecting themselves from "shill" bidding (a criminal offence in most civilized countries) by unethical vendors.</p> <p>Notwithstanding eBay's statements to the contrary, this application of absolute anonymity (ie, Bidder 1, Bidder 2, etc) by eBay on these sites serves absolutely no purpose other than to deceive consumers by making even any otherwise obvious shill bidding undetectable; and the same criticism has always been applicable to eBay's other shill bidders' facility, "User ID kept private".</p> <p>Again, notwithstanding eBay's various pronouncements about shill bidding being banned on eBay, eBay is now, on these sites, effectively (and knowingly) "aiding and abetting" such shill bidders at the expense of consumers. [more]</p> <p>For those with a longer attention span, a lengthy critical analysis of this matter appears at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6498345#6498345"> http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6498345#6498345</a></p> <p>I apologise in advance for the length of this linked "rant". Needless to say eBay would not tolerate it on their discussion forums and I am currently serving a 30-day sentence on the eBay "naughty chair" for posting links to it.</p> <p>If you are an unethical shill-bidding seller or a buyer who is not concerned that on the above-mentioned national sites eBay is effectively "aiding and abetting" such shill-bidding sellers to cheat you, read no further.</p> eBay introduces absolute anonymity for (shill) bidders.

In Australia, the UK, Ireland and the Philippines, eBay has obscured auction bidding to the point that genuine bidders have got absolutely no chance of detecting and thereby protecting themselves from "shill" bidding (a criminal offence in most civilized countries) by unethical vendors.

Notwithstanding eBay's statements to the contrary, this application of absolute anonymity (ie, Bidder 1, Bidder 2, etc) by eBay on these sites serves absolutely no purpose other than to deceive consumers by making even any otherwise obvious shill bidding undetectable; and the same criticism has always been applicable to eBay's other shill bidders' facility, "User ID kept private".

Again, notwithstanding eBay's various pronouncements about shill bidding being banned on eBay, eBay is now, on these sites, effectively (and knowingly) "aiding and abetting" such shill bidders at the expense of consumers. [more]

For those with a longer attention span, a lengthy critical analysis of this matter appears at:

http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6498345#6498345

I apologise in advance for the length of this linked "rant". Needless to say eBay would not tolerate it on their discussion forums and I am currently serving a 30-day sentence on the eBay "naughty chair" for posting links to it.

If you are an unethical shill-bidding seller or a buyer who is not concerned that on the above-mentioned national sites eBay is effectively "aiding and abetting" such shill-bidding sellers to cheat you, read no further.

]]> Comment on Flashturbation hall of shame by: Dexter http://lutrov.com/blog/flashturbation-hall-of-shame/#comment-977 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:05:49 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/flashturbation-hall-of-shame/#comment-977 <p><a href="http://www.creativevision.com.au/">Creative Vision</a> spews something about "creativity solving almost any problem" for about 30 seconds and then presents you what looks like "our email" and "our success" links. You click on the first one and your email software starts. You click on the second one and absolutely nothing happens. If only they had the brains to apply the "creativity solving almost any problem" mantra to their own site.</p> Creative Vision spews something about "creativity solving almost any problem" for about 30 seconds and then presents you what looks like "our email" and "our success" links. You click on the first one and your email software starts. You click on the second one and absolutely nothing happens. If only they had the brains to apply the "creativity solving almost any problem" mantra to their own site.

]]> Comment on PHP last day of the month calculation by: J http://lutrov.com/blog/php-last-day-of-the-month-calculation/#comment-963 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:05:09 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/php-last-day-of-the-month-calculation/#comment-963 <p>I'd have to disagree. The easiest way is this:</p> <p><code>$datemk = mktime(23,59,59,date("m"),0,date("Y")); $date = date("Y-m-d", $datemk);</code></p> I'd have to disagree. The easiest way is this:

$datemk = mktime(23,59,59,date("m"),0,date("Y")); $date = date("Y-m-d", $datemk);

]]> Comment on Is your website used for relay spam? by: Jakov http://lutrov.com/blog/is-your-website-used-for-relay-spam/#comment-959 Thu, 22 May 2008 13:21:58 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/is-your-website-used-for-relay-spam/#comment-959 <p>I hope that didn't. But what is spam?</p> I hope that didn't. But what is spam?

]]> Comment on The dangers of blogging by: Ivan http://lutrov.com/blog/the-dangers-of-blogging/#comment-949 Thu, 01 May 2008 10:32:15 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/the-dangers-of-blogging/#comment-949 <p>Dejan, thanks for dropping by.</p> <p>I notice that you've diligently removed those <strong>idiotic</strong> spam comments which were left on your excellent post about <a href="http://stylizedweb.com/2008/02/14/10-best-css-hacks/">CSS hacks</a>.</p> <p>It must be a battle to have to constantly purge that garbage, but I guess, to go by your own philosophy about blogging "being all about money", these knuckleheads are just trying to make a buck too. Never mind that the rubbish they leave on websites such as yours just causes the content managers to waste precious time cleaning up after them.</p> <p>I also see that you have ads on your website. Are they working for you? I keep getting offers to advertise here but I'm still resisting.</p> Dejan, thanks for dropping by.

I notice that you've diligently removed those idiotic spam comments which were left on your excellent post about CSS hacks.

It must be a battle to have to constantly purge that garbage, but I guess, to go by your own philosophy about blogging "being all about money", these knuckleheads are just trying to make a buck too. Never mind that the rubbish they leave on websites such as yours just causes the content managers to waste precious time cleaning up after them.

I also see that you have ads on your website. Are they working for you? I keep getting offers to advertise here but I'm still resisting.

]]> Comment on The dangers of blogging by: Dejan http://lutrov.com/blog/the-dangers-of-blogging/#comment-948 Thu, 01 May 2008 07:48:10 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/the-dangers-of-blogging/#comment-948 <p>Well these days blogging is all about money ;)</p> Well these days blogging is all about money ;)

]]> Comment on Ebay shill bidding by: Jackson http://lutrov.com/blog/ebay-shill-bidding/#comment-942 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:20:02 +0000 http://lutrov.com/blog/ebay-shill-bidding/#comment-942 <p>Ebay have recently introduced bidding anonymity, which makes it now harder to spot these fake bids:</p> <p><a href="http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6497776#6497776">http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6497776#6497776</a></p> <p>With many thousands of items sold every day, ebay now protects shill bidders and increases their own revenue by many thousands of dollars every day!</p> Ebay have recently introduced bidding anonymity, which makes it now harder to spot these fake bids:

http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6497776#6497776

With many thousands of items sold every day, ebay now protects shill bidders and increases their own revenue by many thousands of dollars every day!

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