Box of Crayons (Michael Bungay Stanier)

I get phone calls like that all the time. They say things like "This is the information you requested when you visited us in the mall the other day."

I haven't been in a mall in some months, and I am on the Do Not Call List, but somehow, they get my number.


I hate it when people do that kind of advertising. It just reeks of SCAM, in my opinion.

Yeah, those are some pretty low tactics. I much prefer the straightforward, honest charities who tell you who they are upfront, and ask you if you would like to make a donation. I am so much more willing to give to someone like that, than someone who lies about what I did or did not do in the past.

I'm sorry you had to deal with the spam, BTW. I like the kind you put on a plate, but not the kind people put on the Internet. Sometimes I wonder why anyone advertises that way.

The spam I get lately is all in Chinese for some reason. Speaking of which, does anyone here speak Chinese?

I don't think I've ever gotten a writing related spam, not even from my asstr account when I was young and stupid and put the email address on the website. I feel neglected now. (Not really.)

Oh, and for calls, you can always try whocalled.us... brand new service, but it's been pretty useful to me when I get telemarketers who are unlisted.

ETA: Scratch that; a search in google plus "translate this page" tells me I'm invited to this big marketing convention in China. And I did find a Patrick Dent spam in there I'd just overlooked. Go me.

That seems odd soloset. I speak some Chinese... but I can't read characters, sorry. I only get Chinese spam though text messages on my phone. Seems kinda funny I don't get any in email... considering I'm living in China... unless you count the really stupid job recruiters who don't read my resume.

"Travis Tea" gets all kinds of writing-related spam through the address on "his" website. You'd think they'd know better, but then ... they're getting the addresses from spiders crawling the web looking for keywords. No human intervention.

mjlpsu said:

That seems odd soloset. I speak some Chinese... but I can't read characters, sorry.

Click to expand...

I know, I wonder myself! I think it's some sort of scam deal, given that I usually get at least two copies from two different email addresses. But then, it could just be I'm on somebody's business list. In China.

The sad thing is, I know at least two people who buy from spam emails. One buys pharmaceuticals and the other, my old boss, actually purchased software. Nothing like a blank stare and a "but it's cheap!" in response to carefully laid out concerns about legality to tell you it's time for a new job.

Oh, and some googling suggests this particular company is run by a "certified life coach" and motivational speaker, who, as far as I can see, seems to be marketing his coaching services largely towards corporations and his book towards anyone -- not just writers -- who'll shell out the money.

I would think choosing one of the workshops that are run by writers specifically for writers would be a far better use of the $135, even without the spam issue.

Jenna, I've found that charities will sell or give the list of people who donate to them to other charities. One Thanksgiving (a couple of years ago) we donated my car to the American Cancer Society. Ever since then we've received calls from veterans' associations and other charities, ones we had never had any dealings with before.

I've seen an increase in Chinese language spam as well. And I think someone noted a couple of weeks ago that an e-mail to an agent bounced because the mailbox would not accept e-mails with non-western characters. I wonder if there's a link there.