Spam in subject lines (Re: multiprocessing.Queue blocks when sending large object)

Steven D'Aprano steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info
Mon Dec 5 04:41:06 EST 2011


On Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:11:28 +1100, Chris Angelico wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 7:57 PM,  <boB at mail.python.org> wrote:
>> Why do people add character  like    [* SPAM *]  to their  subject
>> lines ??   Is it supposed to do something  ??   I figured since
>> programmers hang out here, maybe one of you know this.
> 
> People don't. It's something added by a spam filter that thought that
> the email was likely to be junk (in this case, a 70% probability
> thereof). If you're curious as to exactly _why_ the filter thought that,
> check the email headers - it's all there, in exhaustive detail.

Hilariously, I have occasionally received spam where the spammer included 
SPAM in their subject line under the mistaken impression that this sign 
of honesty would make me more likely to read the body of the email.

Actually, in hindsight, not so mistaken really... 



-- 
Steven



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