Slogan: Getting Rich Overnight

[Robert Kern]

In article <mailman.1060564217.5526.python-list at python.org>,
	Christian Tismer <tismer at tismer.com> writes:
> Ben Finney wrote:
> 
>> On Sun, 10 Aug 2003 23:56:01 +0200, Christian Tismer wrote:
>> 
>>>But is there any way for such a slogan to pass spam at all?
>> 
>> 
>> The much greater battle is: if it passes electronic/programmatic
>> filters, how are you going to get it past the wetware filters -- i.e.,
>> the fact that it just sounds like spam when you hear it?
> 
> It does not sound like spam when you read it.
> Getting you to read it is the trick.

Yes, but I think Ben's point is that there are more "filters" that go between
the eyeballs ("seeing") and actual comprehension ("reading"). I know that my
brain often scans the gross meaning of the words to determine interest before it
actually reads for comprehension. Usually, this mode of operation kicks in for
activities like scanning subject lines of USENET articles or seeing a T-shirt
slogan.

Now, the situations where your slogan might be used may not trigger this "mode".
On the other hand, it still triggers another "filter" in my head.

I simply don't read "get rich {quick,fast,overnight}" and the like as 
meaningful phrases anymore. Your article is the first time in years that I have
seen it used in any context besides a scam. I have to try hard to read "Python
makes you rich, overnight" and extract the intending meaning from it.

>>>If I remove the ambiguity, the slogan gets lame.
>> 
>> Anything with "get rich {quick,fast,overnight}" already has far too many
>> negative connotations to sound un-lame.
> 
> Right. But is this my fault?

No, of course not. It is simply an unfortunate coincidence that an incredibly
apt way of describing the Python experience has been used by scammers for much,
much longer, probably since the beginning of modern English. (I'm working from a
US monophone's perspective here. The slogan may work perfectly well in other
languages or countries with different scams. I can't address those
possbilities.)

>> Choose another slogan, forget the "get rich" nonsense.  While the
>> sentiment is great, and I agree it's a wonderful feeling when you
>> realise how much your options have increased with little effort, the
>> "get rich overnight" just doesn't jibe with me.
> 
> Yeah, true. The bare fact that "getting rich overnight" has
> become something that we regard as spam:
> Isn't that telling us a *very very* bad story?
> The spammers *have* won, we are playing *their* games.
> Can you see it?

I don't think it works that way. I'm positive that scammers would much prefer
that we give as much attention to their slogans as we do to things that really
matter to us. The desensitization that comes from overuse of certain phrases
hurts them, too. That's why you now see spam e-mails with conversational
subjects like "Hey, listen to this" as if they came from your friend. They
really, really, really want you to associate "Get Rich Quick!" with "Great
opportunity I should really look into", not "Scam: Ignore".

Yes, it has some sad effects in this case, but desensitization is a perfectly
natural (and in most cases, beneficial) adaptation to overstimulus. If I gave
every spam email or scam flyer the same attention I would like to give "Python
makes you rich, overnight", I'd go nuts. It's not just my email (which SpamBayes
takes care of quite nicely); "Get Rich Quick!" flyers cover just about every
telephone pole I bike past. Since SpamBayes does not (yet!) interface with my
eyeballs, my wetware filters are the best I've got. However, their false
positive rates are not yet as low as SpamBayes'.

I may be idiosyncratic in this, however. I'm particularly intolerant to overuse
of certain phrases. "Terror" lost its meaning to me about an hour into
2001-09-11.

And perhaps only English-speaking US is really affected this way. I don't know.

>> The feeling isn't one of being (financially) rich; it's one of being
>> free from restrictions.  Another thread recently mentioned the idea
>> that, opposed to other languages, Python lets you go home on time.
>> That's closer to the mark.
> 
> Fine. And you let spammers dictate to you what they want
> you to think? I do think this is going way too far.
> We have already allowed them to get too far.
> Did I say anything bad? Nothing at all, this was said by
> other people. And those are dictating to us, what to say
> and what not to say.
> SHould we really continue to support this?

Come on, there's no need to take this personally. It's a great slogan that
succinctly describes the almost-revelatory experience of the Python newbie.
Unfortunately, it is surrounded by circumstances beyond your or my control that
hamper its potential in certain situations.

-- 
Robert Kern
kern at caltech.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter