I’m introducing a new feature here on the blog. Dumbass of the Week will showcase an email I’ve received from a different spammer each week as a way of both publicly humiliating them and providing a way to rid myself of the pent-up frustration they have caused me at the same time.
This week’s dumbass is Krishna, who writes:
Dear Kalena…
Hello How are you? Recently I have visited and analyzed your website. We propose to have a text link on your home page that leads to a content based folder hosted at your end. This folder would contain content in the form of articles on various financial and general topics. Eg – www.searchenginecollege.com/folder This business agreement would give an international platform to a number of people to express their skills. These articles are written by a wide variety of professionals who have done extensive study and research and are experts in their respective fields. In the event of us entering into a business relationship, I ascertain that in addition to an agreed monthly fee, you will also benefit from heavy traffic to your site which would in turn increase your earnings.
Krishna
Dear Krishna
I have 3 things to say to you:
1) As it states quite clearly at the top of the page, this blog is for QUESTIONS relating to SEARCH ENGINES. Not for your unsolicited and unwelcome business propositions.
2) If you’d bothered to do your homework, you’d already know that Search Engine College has an extensive Article Library already.
3) Now, put your hand out in front of you with your palm facing inward, then slap your forehead three times saying: “DON’T. (slap) BE. (slap) A DUMBASS!” (slap).
At least I feel better now.
ooh…Somebody’s in twubble…
Kalena:
I feel your pain. I get this crap all the time. It’s one thing that we get so much unsolicited junk, but even more irritating is just how plain STUPID most of it is.
For example, I keep getting both email AND phone calls (really super iritating) from “companies” that say:
“Your site is currently not performing well in searches, it could be doing a lot better with our help..bla bla. If you could please respond with the URL of your web site, we can analyze it and let you know…bla bla..”
So these pukes have determined all this, yet don’t even have my web site URL. Good one.
Almost makes you want to go ahead and believe the Nigerian inheritance letter. At least that’s somewhat plausable. LOL.
RM
Oh, I’m looking so forward to following this series Kalena. Great idea!
I’m laughing my head off. I love the idea of a Dumbass of the Week. LOL… thanks for making me smile. I can’t wait to see more.
very nice. This column is a great idea.
Don’t bother wasting your time talking to what’s likely an autoresponder Form – it’ll just make it mad, then you’re inbox is in trouble!
How about, instead of calling people like Krishna “dumbasses” and ranting about them on our blogs, we help educate them and start REALLY promoting positive linking.
Don’t get me wrong, Kalena, it was a pretty dumb e-mail, but why not react more like a professional and less like a “bad ass”?
Instead of saying that the person behind the e-mail is a “dumbass”, why not e-mail them privately about how they could have improved their e-mail, and then provided us with valuable knowledge of how we can do the same by learning from your example?
Then again, I guess I can expect to be next week’s dumbass for going against the grain.
Excellent idea for a column. We look forward to following it.
Your contact email on http://www.ask-kalena.com/contact/ is formatted as [removed] .. this is now machine-readable by some email harvester engines, I believe. You might want to change that to contribute to reducing your spam somewhat … and then delete it from this comment!
@ Ted – never fear, I don’t actually reply to their send address. I post a public reply here on the blog.
@ Dave – thanks for the tip! Didn’t realize bots could pick up an address in that format.
@ Tanner – I have done that very thing for the past 10 years. I used to spend quite a bit of time replying with some constructive criticism and I’ve never had a positive result, generally only abuse and defensive postulating. So I’ve decided on a course of action that makes ME feel better.
@ everyone else – thanks for the positive feedback! Stay tuned for future spammer humiliation.
[…] Dumbass of the Week […]
Sad.
Is this how you retaliate against a so called Dumb Ass, by being one yourself?
Try taking the high road and being professional it will pay off better in the long run.
I’ve taken the high road all my life. If I can’t take the low road on my personal blog occasionally, I’m not being honest with myself or my readers.
[…] now and then we see people emailing you, asking you to link to them. Emailing to people is a very helpful way to let people know about your content. […]
Haha tanner and joe banner got owned..probably the same person.
MH: Actually, we are not the same person.
Kalena: I believe there are many better ways to go about this, but it is YOUR personal blog and you are entitled to do whatever you want, so I’ve got to give you credit for that. I apologize if I came off rude in my previous comment, it was not intended.
How many dumbasses don’t understand to mind their damn business.
Jeez, what a complete moron. I know the feeling, I get multiple emails like this on a daily basis.