My First Blog Post

As far as I can ascertain, this was my very first blog post. (Not my very first online writing, which had been published around seven years earlier.)

The sad thing is that nothing has changed -- except for the fact that I now receive even more of these inane messages!

22:13 2002-05-22

Make a note of thisToday I had a great email. It started: "Hi [firstname]," and then went on to tell me how this product could make me loads of money.

I should have thought the first step in making pots of money is to find out basic things like your target's name, and perhaps the second thing would be to make sure the mail-merge works.

That's one company that won't be getting my custom (along with all the others whose emails are automatically dumped in my Trash folder -- but that's another story!)

Comments

[zee]

As it is your first blog, But you really have writing guts. Very nice Thanks for sharing.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thanks, Zee!

[To Get My Ex Back]

That reminds me of the numerous Nigerian email scams I used to get, before webmail providers started offering better spam protection. I once decided to respond to one. The scammer claimed to be a member of some African royal family who fled during a military coup and was was supposedly being given asylum at a church in Dublin. He wanted me to help him retrieve his $60 million fortune, for which I would receive something like 20%. I played around for a few email exchanges and made him think I would help, then asked for an advance on the money--which he ignored, of course. Finally I wrote a very excited email telling him about a friend of mine whose father works for the U.S. embassy in Ireland and had agreed to help him after I showed him all the emails I'd received from the "prince." The guy sent me back a furious email telling me the whole thing is off because I'm unprofessional and untrustworthy for telling others after he'd asked me to keep our correspondence a secret. Good times!

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Haha! Must have been a good feeling, turning the tables on him!
I have to say, though, that I think the best policy is to completely ignore such emails. I tend to dump them in the junk mail and mark them as spam so hat that happens automatically in future.

[Jay]

Is this really the first post? I see dates 2002 and 2010.. well :) I completely agree with you on this one. So much to say, so much to share, and so little time to manage your own blog. I wonder how other peolpe find enough time to moderate a blog with daily articles. Yet, I've been thinking of starting my own some time in the future, and getting close to it. More for my own needs than for sharing the news. Yep.

[TReaseR]

Education is the important thing..
I like this site ;)

[travesti]

thnk you for sharing

[cornerstone university lakeshore]

@terry- this blog post was written in 2002 right? For a first time blog post that is quite good. With regards to receiving spam mails, sometimes i try to read a few from time to time. There are actual interesting spams if you manage to take a look. Now in order to avoid spams, i suggest creating a dummy account if you are signing up online.That way all your spam mails will be delivered on a separate email account. Hope that helps.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

thx -- good advice, which I have always practised, but in my experience having a separate email account doesn't prevent ALL spam from entering your "proper" email account.

[nike shox]

It’s really great post. I would like to appreciate your work and would like to tell to my friends.

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

thanks :-)

[Connie McCammon]

You are so right! Good job on getting started blogging. That's half the battle. Best wishes to you!

[ro2 zeny]

I once decided to respond to one. The scammer claimed to be a member of some African royal family who fled during a military coup and was was supposedly being given asylum at a church in Dublin.I played around for a few email exchanges and made him think I would help, then asked for an advance on the money--which he ignored, of course. There are actual interesting spams if you manage to take a look.

[ro2 zeny]

I tend to dump them in the junk mail and mark them as spam so hat that happens automatically in future.There are actual interesting spams if you manage to take a look. Now in order to avoid spams, i suggest creating a dummy account if you are signing up online.I've been thinking of starting my own some time in the future, and getting close to it.

[Treasad]

Unfortunately there is no escaping it. Definitely one of the downsides of our digital lives. That said, on most 'good' days, I can happily ignore and delete said junk and marvel at the wonder of the web! How did we manage before? What's more, how did the spammers manage?

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

@roz I think your suggestions in the second comment are almost all sensible. I don't think it's a good idea to open such emails, in case they contain malware, and actually replying to them just encourages them to send more spam because they realise your email address is a real one.

@treasad excellent question!

[Glen Hopkins]

This is a great good blog for a starter. Thanks for your advice. You can really help people to get rid of spammy messages. These messages are truly irritating to eyes because some of them are totally irrelevant.

[Bendito, Precios Bajos]

e-mail addresses are not known, should go straight to spam. I
that would serve much the topic of viruses or email
that may affect

[Terry Freedman, Educational ICT Consultant]

Thanks, Bendito