Solution to spam -- The Fark Scenario

Missed opportunities

Several of my fellow spam fighters had the notion that we needed a wildly popular web site to bring spam to the forefront. One said "Fred, you need to 'Fark' the spammers!" and went on to tell me about Fark.com, a totally irreverent, totally popular and active web site where fun is poked at about everything. We took a look.
 

Fark.com was started when Drew Curtis started sending emails with funny news stories or pictures to his friends via email. Eventually it got to be too much so he told all his friends to go to his newly created web site "Fark.com" for the stuff previously sent in email. Since that time Fark has grown to wild popularity -- 210 million pageviews in 2002.
 

Fark seems to be targeting anyone online with a taste for the bizarre, humourous, or off-color. The appeal is for teens to twenty-somethings with a decided slant on digging up news items that none of the main stream media will touch. They also specialize in quirkish, off-the-wall items that are funny, weird, twisted or suggestive, and definitely of questionable taste. They offer lots of categories from regular news to "amusing." There's a "Photoshop" topic where people send in their modified photos; and a "Dumbass" topic with such headlines as: "Man gets 13 years for shooting up McDonald's drive-thru -- all he wanted was a "large orange drink." But most popular seem to be the "Boobies" topics, most often sent in by "some guy," which border on soft-porn -- often stamped "Not Safe for Work." (I am definitely NOT advocating going to a porno site, folks -- don't get me wrong.)
 

Fark.com is known for "crashing" web sites. Some of the topics will inflict a 'denial of service' attack on a web site if it appeals to the Fark audience -- in which case "You've Been Farked!" Being farked seems to be a particularly prized event with Fark dot com readers but not so exciting for the victim.
 

So it occurred to us that a "Fark This Spammer" button on Fark.com would be a fitting reward for spammers. I contacted Curtis with my idea and was immediately rebuffed:

"I'd like to, problem is by inciting folks to do that we'd be liable for any damages, ie they can sue us. I don't mind nuking sites that ask for it, we're in the clear then."

I responded back, with the idea to let me do the daily "Fark This Spammer" so that it would be in Virginia where such spamming is a Felony -- and that we would concentrate only on valid spammers committing criminal acts. That email got no response.
 

So there you have it. Someone in a position to do something because of a perceived fear that somehow they would be blamed.
 

It is a sick commentary on society and American justice that a perfectly honest, law-abiding citizen must cower in fear -- refusing to do the right thing -- because of the threat of litigation -- when these spamming criminals are left free to spread their filth, commit numerous felonies, and steal everyone's bandwidth! Just doesn't make sense.
 

Have a great day, and thanks for reading...

That's: http://www.fark.com/

Next: "Spam Filters That Fight Back"

• #158 Email problems getting SoBig
• #159 Nextel spams with paper
• #160 What to do about spam?
• #161 Legal Denial of Service

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