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March 28, 2007

I find it so odd that a small company trolling for business would take the time to harvest an email address manually from a Web site (the address is shown only in an image, not a searchable string of characters in the page), but not take an extra two seconds to recognize that the person belonging to that address is not a suitable potential customer.

The spam message that prompts this thought has the following body parts:

Is your book the next to appear on the big screen?

Check out www.[removed].com to see the trailer for our first film, [removed].

We are making another trip to Hollywood in April to present all new books to all new Producers and Directors! We will present your book in face to face meetings for just $650.

Call me today to get started!

The recipient email address of this message was stolen from my other web site's page about consulting services. My other site is where I support my computer programming books. If you're not into JavaScript, Dynamic HTML, or AppleScript, there isn't much there to interest you.

I therefore find it bizarre that the "Author Consultant" who sent this spam would think I'd be a candidate for her service. The world is not—repeat, not—waiting breathlessly for the movie version of Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, 3rd Edition. While my JavaScript Bible is epic in page count, it would be a tough pitch to a Hollywood producer.

The spam message was sent pretty much in compliance with the U.S. CAN-SPAM law, which allowed me to track down the sending computer. It's in an IP block run by an outfit that has a zero-tolerance view of using the service for unsolicited email. I reported the message as a possible violation of the Acceptable Use Policy.

Perhaps the spammer can pitch this little story to a producer of short films. The film would be rated G, but it may have a very sad ending.