What is SpamMaster?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One fine day, after not logging into Genie for a week or so, I decided
to pay Genie a visit. Lo and behold, I had 19 letters waiting for me!
Unfortunately, eighteen of them were spam. So, when I got around to it,
I created SpamMaster.
SpamMaster is a NDA that works with CoPilot, and lets you get back at
mass mailers that send unsolicited internet e-mail to your Genie account.
What does it let me do?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SpamMaster will automatically send out e-mail replies to the offender,
asking either politely or not-so-politely to be taken off of the person's
mailing list. You can also send the person a picture of a can of Spam or a
brief history of Spam, and you can automatically notify the postmaster at
the person's internet service provider as well.
How do I install SpamMaster?
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First copy the five text files (the files that end with ".TXT") into
the GEFILES folder inside your CoPilot folder. Then you can either copy
the SpamMaster NDA file into your System/Desk.Accs folder, or launch it
from IR.
How do I weild the awe-inspiring power of SpamMaster?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Say you receive an e-mail from someone, telling you about an
incredible business opportunity or something. In CoPilot, use the mouse
to hilight or select the e-mail address of the sender. Then press OpenApple-C
to Copy the selection to the clipboard. Note that SpamMaster is smart
enough to allow you to be a little sloppy in selecting the name -- things like
whether there are leading spaces or whether you select INET# or not don't
matter. Once you've copied the name to the clipboard, choose SpamMaster! from
the apple menu. You'll get a list of various letters you can reply with.
Feel free to check whatever you want. Note that each thing you check off is
sent as a separate letter. Also, the REMOVE letter is always sent last, so
in case sending the other letters put you onto a mailing list, the REMOVE
letter will (maybe) take you off of it. If you choose to send the letter to
the site administators, it will be sent to: postmaster@sitename.xxx,
root@sitename.xxx, and sysadmin@sitename.xxx.
Once you've chosen which letters you want to send, click on the Send
button, and the letters will be sent on the next CoPilot pass.
Be aware that sometimes the address of the sender is not a "real" e-mail
address, or perhaps the sender dropped their e-mail account after sending out
the spam. If this is the case, then your letters will get bounced back to
you, and there's not much you can do about it. Also, if you send e-mail to
the site administrators, usually only one or two of the three names SpamMaster
sends to are valid, so you will get some bouncing back there as well.
I wanna customize my letters!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No problem. The five files that you copied to the GEFILES folder are
simple text files which you can edit in any text editor. The first line of
each file is the subject header, and the rest is the message body. Feel
free to change them however you like, adding your name to the end or
whatever. However, be aware that when you send the letter to the site
administrators, the address of the offender is always appended to the very
end of the letter. So the last line of SPAMADMIN.TXT should always be
something like "The name of the account is: ", with no carriage return
afterward.
How does SpamMaster work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It messes with the MAIL.TRT file.
I love SpamMaster, and want to send the author millions of dollars!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay. You can send me less, too. In fact, I'll settle for a
standard shareware fee of $5. Or if you haven't already, you can buy the
incredible new logic/action game Operation Lambda for $25, or the equally
incredible GS/OS splash screen enhancer Opening Line for $12. (Both prices
include all shipping and handling.) Or, if you want to send me absolutely
nothing at all, then so be it, but a pox on you and your family, and may
the scuttling of the demonic cockroaches keep you awake far into the night.
Address to send money to: Bret Victor
19253 Parkview Rd.
Castro Valley, CA 94546
Address to send words to: Internet: bret@cco.caltech.edu
Genie: B.VICTOR1
I want to know more about the author.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No you don't, you're just being polite. Anyway, I'm 19 years old, I'm a sophomore at Caltech, and I do a lot of IIgs programming. My programming credits include:
TextFighter, CoolEd (co-author), Opening Line, ShadyBar, Bender, Boinger, GravityMouse, Horoscope, SlixLaunch, MagicMouse, AutoInfo, PuyoPuyo, BarNone II, DisChord, Periodic Table, Operation Lambda, MightyScroll, World Time Zones, SlixTop, Jam Break, WhatchaPress, MightyQuotes, PickQuick, SurfBurgers, MightyPrefix, AAUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!, MightyUnits, Tell Me, CrossHatch, Bunnies & Carrots, SpamMaster
The first two are 8-bit programs, and the rest are IIgs programs.
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(c) 1997 Bret Victor and his feet... finally on the ground...