I've just received my daily e-mail from SQLCentral and part of it is an automated list of new/active topics on the forum. And guess what? Several promoting kitchens! (Obviously not as diligent as our moderators!)
I have heard it said that the spammers wouldn't do it unless it was profitable but who on earth would seriously consider buying a kitchen from a company that spammed electronics / programming forums? And probably many others.
"I'll just log onto the forum to see if anyone else has had problems with their chromium plated gimlet. Oh, look, I might buy a kitchen..."?
The thing to note is that the spammers are not the company. The company has employed the spammers to promote their company. They have no idea what these people do but just pay up on how high up a google search there company is.
Grumpy_Mike:
The thing to note is that the spammers are not the company. The company has employed the spammers to promote their company. They have no idea what these people do but just pay up on how high up a google search there company is.
I guess that is true to some companies. But the uk Kitchen guy does know what he is doing.
Maybe some members here could return the favour - you know, register some fake, but plausible details, just to waste a little of their time following them up, or give them a quick phone call to register interest.
If just a small percentage of of our 200 000 member could do this, it would be really great fun.
I really don't condone such actions, but I'd happily turn a blind eye.
(One of their websites is w w w . e x d I s p l a y k I t c h e n s 1 . c o . u k, just in case anyone was interested. But please, don't get distracted and buy a kitchen)
This all closely relates with what you do with the guy from "Microsoft support" who wants to help you get the bugs out of your computer.
If you are in a hurry, then either a barrage of highly descriptive personality assessment (generally involving deep profanity and description of close relatives) or a howler (if you have one handy) must suffice, but given a little time, there are more creative approaches.
(Previous thread on this subject somewhere, almost certainly plural.)
Now there's a project - do you need an Arduino to construct a line-connected howler? Probably not - a 555 is a good start.
This all closely relates with what you do with the guy from "Microsoft support" who wants to help you get the bugs out of your computer.
I've had a couple of these, the last one I spoke to said he "vas from Vindows", and that I had a problem with my computer.
I explained that if he was kosher, he would be from Microsoft, he kept correcting me saying he "vas from Vindows".
I kept telling him Microsoft and he hung up.
Bill Gates really needs to sort out his help centre, tut tut tut, how dare they hang up on MEEE!!!!!
Tom.....
PS Probably didn't understand what the meaning of kosher is in this context.
wizdum:
We need to find a way to transfer their calls to another callcentre, so they can just bug each other for eternity.
Hmm, now how would you do that?
Note that they often use a "scheduler" which rings various numbers and only when one answers, does it get connected to a callcentre operator. This is why when you answer the phone, they do not talk immediately - your time is considered of no value but they want to get the most out of their operators (as they demand such high wages). In general, if you pick up the phone and no-one speaks for three seconds or more, you can hang up because it is either a callcentre, kids, or grandma has just had a stroke.
So if you could somehow aggregate a lot of lines, and in particular if you could determine the country or state of origin, you might have a reasonable chance of two such calls being received at once and could connect them.
Get the caller committed by spending time. Damn, my PC seems to take forever to boot, okay, now what? Oh, oops, someone's at the door, can you hold? Ah now I'm back, could you repeat all that, I forgot while dealing with a friend at the door. So I type what where? Oh wait, I need to use the bathroom.
At which point the phone gets set down and left there. Even when the caller finally hangs up that line will stay open for IIRC 30 more seconds as long as you don't hang up at your end, yet you won't hear the snarling and cursing.
Unfortunately the "marketing" principles of telcos - at least our local ones - preclude them implementing proper processes as they want all calls to be answered in order to charge for them.
This obduracy represents a problem for people receiving nuisance calls. They can have a "caller ID" device (for which our telcos charge a monthly rental - about $5 - to enable the service) which will alert them to either the number causing the nuisance, or that the number is blocked, but the phone will still ring.
What should be provided, is a service such that a caller from a "blocked" number will not cause the phone to ring at all, but get a recorded message instructing them how to use a prefix to cause their number to be revealed.
Other problems include enterprises (notably hospitals and nursing homes) whose PABX systems fail to reveal the caller ID (not even showing it as the switchboard number) and public phones (though these are becoming "hen's teeth").
When "on call" I am expected to answer calls even if the caller ID is blocked, though on principle I do not identify myself when answering such calls until I have verified the caller.