3 ms·

Close to 20 years ago I got an email that in it's entirety said "I have a powful tool. I suspect youd like it", exactly as written. No links, no attachments, ju

Close to 20 years ago I got an email that in it's entirety said "I have a powful tool. I suspect youd like it", exactly as written. No links, no attachments, just plain text. I showed it to my then girlfriend and now wife and since then we have adopted "powful tool" as a term we apply to really great devices or machinery of impressive heritage or even some good software. Warms my heart.

colejohnson66 4y ago
I’ve also gotten mysterious scam emails that contain no information. What’s their purpose?
- cjglo 4y ago
  If I had to guess, it’s a trick to get people engaged. There’s no link or request for money, so people probably respond more often. I imagine like many areas of persuasion (like interrogation), getting someone to start talking is the “foot in the door” that starts to snow ball, even if it’s not about anything relevant.
- thehappypm 4y ago
  Laying the groundwork to beat a spam filter, probably. If a series of emails are read and not deleted, that does not seem like spam.
  - amatecha 4y ago
    huh, that's an interesting point! Seems like a good idea to mark those as spam even if they are "harmless", in that case...
- yucky 4y ago
  It's called "IP warming". When you send bulk emails, there are throttling limits and other things meant to decrease the ability of scammers. So to warm the IP up you have to send on it for awhile. These sorts of blank emails aren't the best way to do it, it's sloppy. But that's the goal.
nonbirithm 4y ago
A cursory search gave back this gem. Same spam email in 2003 except it goes off on a tangent about a Symantec deal worth a lot of money (since someone mentioned they used Norton 2003) that someone used to buy a company sports car. Then people just keep talking about sports cars. https://www.mail-archive.com/membersozdat@datascribe.com.au/msg39596.html https://www.mail-archive.com/membersozdat@datascribe.com.au/...
bad416f1f5a2 4y ago
> From: "Neateye" <NitaiGouranga@aol.com> > Subject: Gouranga > Call out Gouranga be happy!!! > Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga .... > That which brings the highest happiness!! It’s been, fuck, two decades and this is still in my mbox. My wife and I still shout Gouranga at each other some days and, hell, who am I to argue that it doesn’t bring the highest happiness!!
- Lammy 4y ago
  Grand Theft Auto 1 taught me that one :) https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Hare_Krishna https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Hare_Krishna > In GTA, the player received a 'GOURANGA' bonus for running over an entire procession of Hare Krishna. 'GOURANGA' is actually a term that was popularized as use by the Hare Krishna movement during the 1970s. It is often used to describe happiness. This is also a cheat code in the PC version of GTA 2.
hn_go_brrrrr 4y ago
Mine is "Only Spicy food gives me an Explosive Gain.", from https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Only-Spicy-Food-Gives-Me-an-Explosive-Gain https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Only-Spicy-Food-Gives-Me-an..., from back when TDWTF wasn't made up.

colejohnson66 4y ago

I’ve also gotten mysterious scam emails that contain no information. What’s their purpose?

cjglo 4y ago
If I had to guess, it’s a trick to get people engaged. There’s no link or request for money, so people probably respond more often. I imagine like many areas of persuasion (like interrogation), getting someone to start talking is the “foot in the door” that starts to snow ball, even if it’s not about anything relevant.
thehappypm 4y ago
Laying the groundwork to beat a spam filter, probably. If a series of emails are read and not deleted, that does not seem like spam.
- amatecha 4y ago
  huh, that's an interesting point! Seems like a good idea to mark those as spam even if they are "harmless", in that case...
yucky 4y ago
It's called "IP warming". When you send bulk emails, there are throttling limits and other things meant to decrease the ability of scammers. So to warm the IP up you have to send on it for awhile. These sorts of blank emails aren't the best way to do it, it's sloppy. But that's the goal.

nonbirithm 4y ago

A cursory search gave back this gem. Same spam email in 2003 except it goes off on a tangent about a Symantec deal worth a lot of money (since someone mentioned they used Norton 2003) that someone used to buy a company sports car. Then people just keep talking about sports cars. https://www.mail-archive.com/membersozdat@datascribe.com.au/msg39596.html https://www.mail-archive.com/membersozdat@datascribe.com.au/...

bad416f1f5a2 4y ago

> From: "Neateye" <NitaiGouranga@aol.com> > Subject: Gouranga > Call out Gouranga be happy!!! > Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga .... > That which brings the highest happiness!! It’s been, fuck, two decades and this is still in my mbox. My wife and I still shout Gouranga at each other some days and, hell, who am I to argue that it doesn’t bring the highest happiness!!

Lammy 4y ago
Grand Theft Auto 1 taught me that one :) https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Hare_Krishna https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Hare_Krishna > In GTA, the player received a 'GOURANGA' bonus for running over an entire procession of Hare Krishna. 'GOURANGA' is actually a term that was popularized as use by the Hare Krishna movement during the 1970s. It is often used to describe happiness. This is also a cheat code in the PC version of GTA 2.

hn_go_brrrrr 4y ago

Mine is "Only Spicy food gives me an Explosive Gain.", from https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Only-Spicy-Food-Gives-Me-an-Explosive-Gain https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Only-Spicy-Food-Gives-Me-an..., from back when TDWTF wasn't made up.