Todd Stadler's blog

it's still an ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, world

Speaking of potentially subversive advertising, I got the following e-mail today. Please note the "from" header:

Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 18:24:22 -0700
To: s_a_l_r@aracnet.com
From: suz_somers@hotmail.com
Subject: I really liked your idea!

Dear Dan,

I really loved your idea of setting up an open source competition for the discovery of new nutraceuticals. (I fully sympathize with your idea to create intstr.net, and the fact that in the face of malicious attacks you were able to keep your site up) As you may know, I suffer from breast cancer, and am currently taking herbal treatments for my illness. I would love to contribute to your upcoming breast cancer competition by pledging a several million dollar reward for the person who comes up with the best idea for fighting breast cancer. you have all my support for your cause. I look forward to a better future for all humanity. Best wishes,
Suzanne

Now, I am at times a gullible man. But do I really think that Suzanne Somers wrote me an e-mail from her Hotmail account?

Or rather, do I think she accidentally sent it to me, when she meant to send it to Dan, he of apparent "nutraceuticals" fame?

No, digging around on the net has caused me to think this is a particularly weird or insidious type of spam.

This letter made me think that I was privy to a personal e-mail, and not just any one, but one from a girl I thought was pretty back when I watched her crappy, crappy sitcom. Thus, I didn't delete it.

In fact, I looked into the few facts carefully placed in the e-mail. It turns out Suzanne Somers really is battling breast cancer. And that instr.net really claims to have been a "victim of malicious attacks", although it is clearly functioning quite well, thank you.

But it seems to much for me to believe that good ol' Suzy would offer seven-digit financial support in an e-mail from her Hotmail account. She might, you know, want to brush up on her business communication.

Sigh. Oh well. At least the first example of this kind of spam was entertaining to me and kept me on my toes. It's the next several thousand iterations I'm not looking forward to.