Laura’s Spam Busted - old content, new news...

Found this in the files but still find this idea of external blacklisting a little interesting....

I recently [from 2004] received an anti-spam email. Apparently, a general party invite I sent to my friend Thomas was text-flagged by his anti-spam software. Apparently using the word “party” in a subject heading is grounds for your email to be business or porn related spam. Excellent.
Even better was that this spam-blocker basically threatened to blacklist my email unless I replied to their “FYI, we blocked your spam” email, I would basically be blacklisted if used by their other clients. Double excellent, even it is only applicable to clients of this software.
So, I thought that there could be a chance that Thomas has a virus that’s sending these emails out in an attempt to gather email addresses. I would have been more cautious if I didn’t know that Thomas has a Mac, computers which are much less likely to get icky viruses than our much hated PCs. Plus, this email was clearly not by composed with some scamming idiot who knew appropriate corporate/legal jargon in order to buy my reply vote. Needless to say, I replied, rationalizing that not only do I not want to be blacklisted but that if this person/s is/are so smart to send an email like this via Thomas’ computer, they’re smart enough to get all the goods they need on me anyways. But, if I would have been blacklisted, is this really the price of compliance, or non-compliance for that matter?

Email Bust:
From: "Charlie MailScanner" Subject: Unsolicited commercial email rejected
Our UCE (spam) detectors have been triggered by a message you sent:
Subject: Party, party, party!!! Date: Sat May 29 02:48:19 2004
We are very sorry but this message has been rejected by our filter server Charlie. We know that sometimes this is an error. The people who send out junk mail are constantly trying to disguise porn or advertisements as legitimate email. Sometimes our filters accidentally see legitimate messages as spam, especially if it is sent using "HTML" format. If you have received this message, please do one of the following: EITHER 1> CLICK REPLY to this email letting us know that you received this bounce message in error, and we will immediately add you to our list of people who can send anything through our system without interference, and we will also find the original message in quarantine and speed it on its way. OR 2> Resend your message using "Plain Text", making sure not to include words that could trigger the porn section of the filters - you know the ones. We know plain text doesn't have pretty colored fonts and fancy underlines, but good old plain text almost never produces a false positive filter score unless you talk a lot about intimate body parts or have an email address with a word like "hotdeals" in it.
If you are a spammer, you will need to go back to the drawing board and find a new way to spell v.i.a.g.r.a or m0rtgage or a new way to hide the wording for phony college degrees or to bilk people out of their money on get rich schemes. Perhaps a new line of work would be in order. Maybe you could take some of your own advice, and work from home earning millions of dollars every day, or better yet, just cancel your debts completely and never repay them. Sit back with a secured platinum credit card, while you live on Cialis and love, losing weight and listening to opportunity knocking. In any case we are glad your message has been blocked - the world is a better place without your crap. If you are not a spammer, we sincerely apologize for having delayed passage of your message, and if you (politely?) let us know, we will take action immediately. Thank you for your patience.
Second Email:
From: "Norm Woodward"
Subject: RE: Unsolicited commercial email rejected
We are unable to find a message from you in our quarantine. If you will reply to the original bounce message including the information it contains we will be better able to assist you. The original message sent to you by our system contains tracing information we need. Sorry. .. Norm
-----Original Message-----To: spam@mmwa.ca Subject: Re: Unsolicited commercial email rejected
I am not a spammer. This client of yours is an associate of mine and I would prefer not to be blacklisted for an invitation email, thanks!

Written: Friday, May 28th, 2004