[originally posted to spam-l]

On Thu, 27 Apr 2000 15:38:39 -0700, Julian Haight

[paragraph dejulianized]

I invented the concept of the "chickenboner" (actually "beer cans
and chicken bones", I don't know who first shortened it to
"chickenboner") back in 1997 during the golden age of spam when
cartooney threats were very common. I did it to counter the image
that some spammers were trying to project that they were CEOs of
big companies who sat behind mahogany desks in corner offices
writing their "legal business communications" and forwarding
flames to "the legal department". I instead wanted people to
picture some balding pot bellied redneck sitting in his trailer
sending spam from a Packard Bell 486 which was sitting on the
kitchen table and surrounded by "beer cans and chicken bones".

However, I now have to agree with Julian. This is not a realistic
image of our adversary and come to think of it, we know very
little about spammers. Yes many of the spammers who are bought to
our attention do seem to fit "my" stereotype and we love to laugh
at the antics of the likes of Andrew Brunner and Ronnie Scelson
but I now suspect that the "chickenboners" represent the sick and
diseased members of the herd and therefore are the ones who
become chew toys for us(tinu) Darwin is living large in the world
of the spammer.

The healthy members of the herd are a lot smarter and more clever
then we give them credit for and we know very little about them.
How do they find open relays? Who comes up with all these goofy
obfuscation schemes? How do spamhausen like postmasterdirect,
cavecreek, and covesoft and Wongs manage to stay connected for so
long? We have been speculating about the spammer's MO for years
but the truth is we really don't know.

Every once in a while, someone like NUK comes long and gives us a
small look into a large pink world but there is a helluva lot
about that world that we know nothing about. We are almost as
clueless as the "chickenboners" are.
--
Ron Ritzman
http://i.am/supertroll