This one is just too hilarious, but I expect some really stupid people fell for it. The website appears to be down already, but this is so blatant that it's going to be a classic: Dear paypal member, We are sorry to inform you that our database has been crashed, as a result some of our members login information has been lost.On behalf of paypal costumer care department we ask you please to go to the following link and submit your information: http://bubu.to/storage/CustomerDepartment/Paypal%20customer%20care%20department.html Please note that, Incase we needed further information or to confirm your submitted data one of our customer support department will call you. Sincerely, paypal customer department

If you're sending out a newsletter via email that's fully CAN-SPAM compliant, are you sure it's getting through. Better yet, are you sure it's getting read? According to Media Post's article ISPs Continue to Block Permission-Based Emails, Return Path Report Says, "Nearly 20 percent of opt-in commercial email sent during the second half of 2003 did not reach its intended destination". It's only going to get worse.

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It's getting to be a real pain to use email anymore and it's not just the Spam and Viruses, it also screwy fonts. I've been getting periodic emails which I have to assume are Spam (but don't really know for sure) that lock up my email programs. The offending emails are coming from t-online.de and have strange subjects like "=?Windows-1251?B?0u7t608PP++ejllPju8PL7IM/0wsXQIMTGyMw=?=". Outlook Express hangs up when it trys to retrieve such a message and they're a pain to eliminate.
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For the publisher's that want to offer their readers a downloadable program, there's a new reader that just came to my attention. It's called Tristana. It's a small download, less than 900kb and so far seems to be pretty good. I even uploaded an OPML file to make it easier for new users of this program to access some of the Quikonnex channels (if you didn't get you channel listed in the new search directory I can't promise that you got included). Get Tristana here: Tristana

Make sure you check out the SHARE link on the site to find the OPML file. Additionally, this program is brandable for $95.00US. It's a Windows only program.

I've mentioned in various articles that the main problem with email is in the underlying protocols. Okay, so I talk geek a lot. So here's something you've got to read! John Glube's article "Is The Writing On The Wall For Spam?" is probably the best article I've read to date on the issues surrounding email marketing. Normally, I link you through to my READ MORE section, however, this is so good that clicking on the title above will take you directly to the article. BTW, make sure you follow John's link to "The 3rd Annual Nigerian EMail Conference". [Read More!]

It's not the holes in Microsoft security that concerns me lately, it the blackhole that common sense gets sucked into. The rash of viruses that I've been seeing, Bagel, Netsky and MyDoom, play on users inability to recognize obvious attempts to attack their computers.
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