Last Spam of 2014

This post is about email spam so it is, of course, really boring. I'll throw in a few pictures of my cat George to liven it up a bit.  George is kind of a managerial cat—always poking his nose into something—so I don't think he will mind.

Now for the spam: Back in mid-November 2014, I received this email from someone I didn't even know:

Since she gave the address of my "Frugal Living" blog—which is NOT my actual website—and she didn't greet me by name, I figured it was spam. Naturally, I didn't bother to reply. Neither did George, although  he was sleeping in a dangerous place.

But we were wrong. On Dec. 8, I received a follow-up:

Again, she gave the address of my "Frugal Living" blog. Nonetheless, I answered her with  this (note that I didn't address her by name either):

Hello,

I don't update my frugal living blog much anymore because I don't get out to find bargains at local places the way I used to. And I haven't allowed guest bloggers in the past. How much do you pay for placing articles on a writer's personal blog? (I'm thinking I could let you have space on my blog—a max of 750 words for $25 and a max of 1500 words for $50.)

I read the two articles you referenced and found them horribly generic. No sense of the writer's personality at all! The first one had no pictures that illustrate the article and the second only had one generic picture plus a lame attempt at humor by implying the reader lounged on the sofa and watched mindless crap on TV.  Readers of a personal blog would certainly be turned off by those articles. I know I was.

However, I could use some info on how to build an inexpensive pasture fence that will contain a large mare who likes to lean on the fence (electric fence is not an option), how to build winter shelters for barn-cats or feral cats, the best way to treat a hoof abscess and how bandage a horse's foot, and similar rural-related articles. All submitted articles should include pictures of the writer's cats or horses. And all articles should mention local sources of materials (Franklin, Bedford, Roanoke, Pittsylvania County VA).

George and I thought that would be the end of it, but we were wrong. On the last Wednesday of 2014, I received this:

. . . to which I replied—including the copy of my above response—and adding this: 

Since then my prices have gone up.  It's now $50 for a max of 750 words and $75 for a max of 1500 words for articles for my blog. The articles must have a rural slant and refer to local sources of supplies.

And please—if you quote any statistics, cite your sources—which shouldn't be from the manufacturer whose product you're plugging in your article. The "Energy Efficiency" article was a pretty lame promo for Nest and only provided generic info. The "Beyond Windows" article might work for city dwellers who don't have pets, but my cats would be swinging on those drapery panels like nobody's business. My blog readers wouldn't identify at all.

Perhaps you should just drop me from your email list. I don't think we're on the same page. We're not even in the same book. And we're in different libraries. Well, you get my drift.

 But I'll bet she doesn't. Since there was a copyright notice on the bottom of her email, the company might think I'm violating some law or another. However, since I'm using jpegs of a portion of the email for educational purposes, George and I think I'm good to go.

Plus, I might even be helping them "expand their audience." Just not in the way they envisioned.

Meanwhile, if y'all want to buy space on my blog (note: my prices are rising so rapidly, I can't give you a quote at the moment) have your people contact my cat George and we'll see what we can work out.

But be warned that George isn't thinking outside the box lately.

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