Around late last year I received my first spam message from www.80-20initiative.net. At that time I asked them (without providing them with my email address and the opportunity to listwash) to stop spamming me, and explained how to run a confirmed-opt-in mailing list. They ignored my messages after I refused to give them my email address. Since then I have heard from two people who have informed me that 80-20 does not honor remove requests.
80-20 is an organization that is allegedly devoted to encouraging Asian Americans to become politically involved (though, as can be expected, they need money to do that). I don't have any problems with that. I do have a problem with the spamming. My email address unfortunately receives spam from Korea, Japan and especially China, averaging 12 messages per day. I don't know how 80-20initiative got my address, but I assume it was purchased as part of a list of Asian email addresses. I certainly have never signed up with them, or with any political organization for that matter.
Any organization should respect the right of individuals to choose not to hear their messages. Any organization, however worthy in concept (or not), does not deserve money for irresponsible, disrespectful behavior. They are no better than the people who want you to buy Viagra and mortgages.
I have received 52 messages from 80-20initiative since January 6 2004. I have complained to their providers on most of them. XO.com and Covad.com hosted 80-20 for quite some time. They seem to have been kicked off Covad recently and now they have switched to Conversent.com.
Why don't I just hit delete or unsubscribe?
Just hitting delete silences the problem of spam. Everyone complains about spam, but only a small percentage actually reports it to the source. This is in part due to ignorance, and is not helped by the fact that spammers do everything they can to hide their actual IP address and ISP. Spammers want you to hit delete. If people don't complain, the spammer won't get kicked off his ISP.
There are a number of ways to help ordinary Joes find a spammer's ISP. The simplest way is get an account with Spamcop.net. (Please note, this is Spamcop.NET, not Spamcop.COM. The latter is a fake site.)
You will need to copy the entire spam source code. In Netscape this is done using Control-U or through the menu View:Message Source. I'm not sure how it's done in Outlook, but Google-ing for it brings up two useful pages:
http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et010905.htm
http://www.mycert.org.my/emailabuse/header.html
Why don't I unsubscribe? Plain stubbornness. I never subscribed myself to begin with, it was done against my will, so why should I have to unsubscribe? Again, this silences the problem of unsolicited mail.
This page represents an exchange of views with SB.
On July 4th, Asian Pacific Americans may want to
o Count the Blessings of Liberty We've Enjoyed as Citizens &
Permanent Residents of USA:
For instance, so many of us recently sent messages to our
presidential candidates, including President Bush himself,
that unless each pledges to help us win equal opportunity
in workplaces, we would not support his/her candidacies in
the coming election. Most candidates responded not only
affirmatively but also speedily. Where else is a land so free?
o Show Appreciation for Our Great Nation & at the Same
Time Help Erase Our Image as "Perpetual Foreigners":
Hoist a flag! Visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/flagproject.html where
you can 1) ask for free flags from 80-20,
2) find out where to buy flags with a holder,
3) listen to 80-20's radio ads, being aired for 2 weeks
in Korean, Vietnamese & Chinese (Mandarin &
Cantonese) in SF, LA & NY, at a cost of $15K to 80-20.
Contact ethnic radio stations in your locality which
May want to air the radio ads as a public service. The
ads can be downloaded electronically, free of charge,
4) find out how 80-20's flag project is helping to
erase our foreigners' image. See "media coverage," &
5) Organize a Sea of Flags activity in your locality
and ask the local media to cover your event. Most
media will be more than willing! Be a DOER.
It takes images (sea of flags) to create a positive &
patriotic image for us.
What if, it were known across America that there were always
MORE flags hoisted in Koreatown/Chinatown/Little Saigon/
Japantown/etc. on Independence, Memorial, and Veteran Days?
Will most of our compatriots still think of us as foreigners? No
way!
Can we turn this vision into reality? Yes, if YOU do your share!
Join 80-20. Don't be a free loader. :-) Together, we shall
overcome. Using a credit card, visit
http://www.80-20initiative.net/membership.html
PERSONAL checks are payable to "80-20 PAC", mailed to:
Jing-Li Yu 80-20 special Assistant
P.O. Box 527340 Flushing, NY 11352-7340 .
Write down your E-MAIL address & phone no. on the BACK of the check.
Basic membership is $35; Family (2 voters) is $50, Life Membership is
$1,000. Student membership is $15. Thank you.
For unsubscribing, reply with the word:unsub-me. - -
- - TO BE AN 80-20 SUPPORTER, reply with the word:sub-me. - -
fdMsTo:$SPAMVICTIM$
I have had it with receiving your stupid messages. I asked you over a year ago to stop spamming me. At that time I explained the proper method of running a mailing list: 1. Send a message to people asking them if they want to join. 2. Add to your mailing list only those people who say YES. Anyone who says no should be removed. Anyone who DOES NOT REPLY SHOULD BE REMOVED. Obviously you have not listened. I see that you have taken on spammers' habits of switching between Covad and XO and other ISPs to send your spam. I can see what kind of people you are: you're waving the flag of patriotism to score money off of Asians. You see no irony in buying a list of Asian names to try to make money off them. You are complete scum and I will be happy to tell anyone what scum you are. I will continue to let Covad, XO, etc., know every time I get your spam. I bet your aides are going to ask me, "Give me your address so I can remove you." This is called listwashing. I will not give you the address you spammed (it is not the address I'm sending from). This is to convince you to comply with the mailing list method explained above. Please see http://www.spamhaus.org/mailinglists.html for a more thorough explanation.
I don't take a single penny from 80-20 except to give about $35,000 over the last six year. Look up 80-20's report to FEC! Are you sure every one use your type of logic? You must have more than 1 email address. austringer@spamcop.net is NOT in our computer. SEnd us the email address that is in the email that 80-20 sends to you. Thanks. SB On Tue, 15 Jun 2004, Andrea Chen wrote: > > ================= mail forwarding for 80/20 ============ > > > ###### austringer@spamcop.net is searched on some of 80-20 lists ###### > > ###### austringer@spamcop.net is not on current 80-20 lists ###### >
S B Woo wrote: > I don't take a single penny from 80-20 except to give about $35,000 over > the last six year. Look up 80-20's report to FEC! Are you sure every one > use your type of logic? Who's lagging in the logic department? I have made no accusations that this money is misspent. All I said was you and your organization keep asking me for money because I am Asian, and I am tired of getting these messages. > You must have more than 1 email address. austringer@spamcop.net is NOT in > our computer. SEnd us the email address that is in the email that 80-20 > sends to you. Thanks. Hello, SB? Read what I wrote below? >>I bet your aides are going to ask me, "Give me your address so I can remove >>you." This is called listwashing. I will not give you the address you spammed >>(it is not the address I'm sending from). This is to convince you to comply >>with the mailing list method explained above. Please see >>http://www.spamhaus.org/mailinglists.html for a more thorough explanation. Why don't you tell your webmaster to follow what I wrote about not spamming? I'm Asian, I'm a registered voter, and I vote. That ought to make you happy. So why don't you make me happy and stop annoying me with your 80-20 mails? 99% of people who receive spam don't report it. They just delete it. I bet you have a pile of people on your list, some who may not even be Asian, who just delete your messages. That does not solve the problem of wasted bandwidth and storage. *Your* junk mail costs *me* time and money. SB, you're an activist - good. I'm an anti-spam activist. Clean up your mailing list, remove everyone who hasn't asked to be on your list, and I'll stop bugging you.
Nuts. Don't be tough with me. SB
S B Woo wrote: > Nuts. Don't be tough with me. Could you explain a bit what you mean? Why shouldn't I be tough with you? Do you have that Chinese "girls are worthless" attitude? This is the same kind of response I got from your organization last year. You don't even acknowledge what I suggested. This is why you're scum. I got spam from another company about 5 months ago, complained to them (I'm always polite the first time around). On my request they did some research into proper methods of email marketing. And they complied. --
Have gotten messages from SB Woo blacklisted on Spamcop.