Standard spam trick (WAS "Re: spam the child molester matt parker off the web")

In article <1103684643.d46faa732685faf1e07a2c300dbf0ba1@teranews>, Jimw wrote:
> Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.email,sci.med.nursing,alt.comp.periphs.scanner,alt.ascii-art,sci.bio.ethology
> Subject: Re: spam the child molester matt parker off the web
> Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 21:04:05 -0600
> 
> The below is NOT my post but someone using my name!!
> 
> "Jimw" <jim...@isp.com> wrote in message 
> news:5643782120.1cc222eb054a5dbb7cf63ac4f72a8440@teranews...
> > on the other; but as
> > the CIA versus Nixon. None of this was in Hersh's piece, which
> > presented the typical White House-funneling-"hush money"-to-the-
> > burglars story which could have been written by Woodward.
>

       I don't know which one of the listed newsgroups you were caught from, but you've helped the spammers 
aims. FYI (and for other lurker's information), I'll explain the scam you've fallen for.
       Someone, not you and likely not a subscriber to any newsgroup you subscribe to, is in favour of spamming 
for some reason (theft, organised crime, whatever), and wants to hamper the professional spam-squashers who work 
in news.admin.net-abuse.email (first on the list of cross-posted newsgroups). So, the spammer uses a tool that 
collects the identifying information from recent posters to a batch of newsgroups, then uses that identifying 
information to post an inflammatory message to a batch of newsgroups INCLUDING news.admin.net-abuse.email
       The spammer hopes for a response of outraged commentary, denials of responsibility and probably 
penis-enlargement advertising ALL OF WHICH GOES THROUGH news.admin.net-abuse.email . This will obviously disrupt 
the productive work that goes on there.
       By posting your denial message to the same distribution list (of newsgroups) as the spammer originally 
used, then you have actually assisted the spammer in his disruptive plans. Bad news, I know. Time to commit hara 
kiri with the edge of your keyboard (un-sharpened). Of course, if you promise to ALWAYS trim 
news.admin.net-abuse.email from such replies (and preferably trim it down to ONLY the newsgroups you regularly 
subscribe to), then you could get away with a penance of explaining this scam to the next 5 people you see 
falling for it.
       
       No-one familiar with how newsgroups work should have mistaken the original offensive posting as anything 
other than a tired, old, familiar trick. Sorry to see you got caught; I got faked in a number of groups last 
month and I know how irritating it is. How did Coleridge put it? : "A sadder and a wiser man/ He rose the 
morrow's morn."
-- 
Aidan Karley,
Geologist,
"You are in a maze of twisty little presentation styles, all [different | alike]."

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