(Also, if you ever don't hear back from us, it's likely we didn't see your note. We do our best, but sometimes it's a nightmare of inboxes, spam folders, porno only, and Nigerian inheritance opportunities.)
Anyway, this is my favorite note from the week.
[+]
Dear
Brother /
My name is: Mourad
I am from Algeria (Djelfa State)
If you want to send you some Algerian stamps, just wrote me your
mailing address (Postal) here
And I promise you that sent some Algerian stamps to add to your collection
(For Free)
Best Regards
That actually sounds mildly legitimate.
ReplyDeleteI have a useful piece of software, a graph paper generator, that asks a postcard from your location sent to the programmer's address in France. I thought that a reasonable price to pay.
The program is the first one listed here.
DeleteI would be leery of unsolicited email, particularly if it asks for personal info of any kind.
ReplyDeleteYes, but. A serious philatelist would set up a separate PO Box, send that information, and see whether he got some way cool stamps.
DeleteAn email came from a friend just today:
ReplyDelete"I really hope you get this fast. I could not inform anyone about my trip, because it was impromptu. I had to be in Milano, Italy for a program. The program was successful, but my journey has turned sour. I misplaced my wallet and cell phone on my way back to the hotel i lodge in after i went for sight seeing. The wallet contained all the valuables things i have. Now, my passport is in custody of the hotel management pending when i make payment.
I am sorry if i am inconveniencing you, but i have only very few people to run to now. i will be indeed very grateful if i can get a loan of $1,550 from you. this will enable me sort our hotel bills and get my sorry self back home. I will really appreciate whatever you can afford in assisting me with. I promise to refund it in full as soon as I return. let me know if you can be of any assistance. Please, let me know soonest. Thanks so much.."
lol. While they were in his account, they erased his address book. Poor guy.
I just checked Cassandra's inbox (for the first time in weeks, maybe months) and found four emails from a young lady who thinks we would be interested in linking to a site with helpful financial aid resources for online learning students. I told her that the moderators made such decisions and pointed out (without actually supplying it) that their address is on the home page, but also suggested that she might want to read the page a bit more carefully before making contact. The real kicker is that she thought this post suggested that I/we am/are interested in online education. I think reading comprehension might be part of the problem here.
ReplyDeleteP.S. It's possible that the email was in some way mass-produced, but it was actually reasonably well-written (or at least basically grammatical).
We get a ton of that particular brand of email. I used to answer some of them, but all they're doing is linking articles to different sites with their own advertising.
DeleteI figured as much. The only surprise was the relatively good writing/grammar, despite the apparent reading comprehension difficulties.
Delete