I think another "scam-baiter" got the scammer to carve and mail him a sculpture of an ipod.

really?

That was from memory. He actually got two carvings - one of "Trixie and Captain Cuddlepuss" and the other of a Commodore 64 keyboard. How my memory turned that last into an Ipod I don't know.

Here is the link: [link]

It seems mean, but on the other this type of email scam is not neccesarily non-violent. If scammers find someone stupid enough they will lure them into personal contact and beat them up or kill them.

this guy started writing back to all his spammers. Some of the responses were really off-the hook, too. Jonathan Something. Yeah, I can see how that might happen.

Heh. That Jonathan inspired my other friend Jon to start a similar campaign. He had the best time spamming the spammers.

Small world! (But I wouldn't want to paint it)

I edited and made you look crazy. Sorry--I was confusing my Jonathans.

There is also an Atlantic Monthly article about the more troubling aspects of the extreme cases, the ones who turn scam baiting into a full time hobby -- basically that the mostly white scam baiters end up with tropy rooms full of photos of black people humiliating themselves.

[link]

I edited and made you look crazy.

Usually no editing is required.

I'm digging this Atlantic Monthly article but I think

"Are the scam-baiters Jedi-like cyber-guardians taking up arms against the Web’s Dark Side, Spam-scam, or are they cyber-vigilantes engaging in vicious pranks that can, at times, border on racism?"

is a bit of an understatement. I have read more than one scam-baiting tale that was quite blatantly racist. Still I have a hard time empathizing with the "victims."

No time to bait scammers. I'm totally bored with the constant interest in enlarging my penis. The emails with the random text still kinda amuses.

It was a mixed bag weekend. The low point was backing up my van and suddenly dropping into a pit. Apparently a few inches below the surface was the septic tank and the zillion year old lid collapsed. I was going to have AAA deal with it, but my nephew took it as a personal challenge to get it out. He and my step-dad managed the task. [link]

The weather was lovely and I enjoyed the woods and lake. I'm having a bit of a time with my son. He sits on his computer all of the time and doesn't want to do anything. He won't go out and enjoy himself. I try and convince him to go and meet the other teens forced to come to Otter Lake against their will, but he would rather sulk. He likes his Florida friends. Doesn't need or want other friends. I grew up with summer friends and school year friends and didn't feel I was being disloyal. Frustrated with him. I even blocked his internet, but now he just plays video games. Blah. Kids.

Good morning!