Rant of the Day v2.

[Smeagol]

I am sure that OFSO, being an ex-GPO YIT, will be familiar with back dialing, the (almost) fool proof method of defrauding those old , pre-STD, coinbox phones.

[OFSO]

Indeed yes. Every raise of the handset rest was a digit. I got quite good at it.
Did anyone mention stuffing the coin return slot with toilet paper?

[Karearea]

Yesterday morning I sent emails to two people: nearly 36 hours later both emails have bounced back to me as "undeliverable, rejected as spam".

Weird.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I've had this recently too, but rejected almost immediately.
As spammers get better at disguising their spam as normal emails, the automatic spam detectors will generate more false positives.

[1DC]

Shocked to find out that even here at the best fish and chip shop restaurant on the Humber a Jumbo haddock, chips,peas,tea, bread and butter is £14.75. Fortunately a medium is only £10.75 which is all I can manage these days.

[OFSO]

The money or the size?

[1DC]

Mrs 1DC says the big one is ok now and again.

[Karearea]

I've had this recently too, but rejected almost immediately.
As spammers get better at disguising their spam as normal emails, the automatic spam detectors will generate more false positives.

So what's best to do?
Re-send, using the link on the "postmaster's advisory"?
Change the subject line from "Birthday wishes" or "Easter Greetings" to something else and send again in the ordinary way?
Or is there a better approach?

[Smeagol]

Indeed yes. Every raise of the handset rest was a digit. I got quite good at it.
Did anyone mention stuffing the coin return slot with toilet paper?

Shirley that was "tapping" , which was easily audible to someone in the local exchange who could hear the uniselectors 'jumping' one step at a time instead of 'zipping' up and around. I understood that 'back dialing' needed someone to actually see you carrying out the action as it was otherwise undetectable.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Karearea,
I tried rewriting them without using what I thought might be trigger words; didn't work.
Tried reformating and changing the order of words; didn't work.
I then wrote longer emails without changing any of the words, which worked.
So, in my case, emails longer than 3 paragraphs haven't been sent to spam.
I did also change the subject line to something less generic, so that may have made a difference.
Hope this helps.

[OFSO]

Indeed, it was tapping. If, walking round the exchange, we heard a selector moving as described, we'd insert a finger and push it round, nullifying the call. Mostly, though, we didn't bother.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Tapping was an art I mastered also.

[Karearea]

Karearea,
I tried rewriting them without using what I thought might be trigger words; didn't work.
Tried reformating and changing the order of words; didn't work.
I then wrote longer emails without changing any of the words, which worked.
So, in my case, emails longer than 3 paragraphs haven't been sent to spam.
I did also change the subject line to something less generic, so that may have made a difference.
Hope this helps.

Thanks, Fox3. I suspect the subject lines may have been a bit spammy-looking.

Will see what happens. The Birthday one is particularly annoying because the moment has sort of passed now, for a birthday on the 6th.

[Woody]

Just had an email about my car insurance renewal 56% increase

[1DC]

Our car insurance went up by silly money last month but we got a good deal from the Direct line outfit..

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The Canadian tax people used to let the people who still do their taxes by hand drop off the forms at a drop box at a local tax centre.
Two years ago, they stopped that.
This year, they reintroduced them...
..but they only put the information about that online, not on the paper tax forms.

[OFSO]

Grrrrrr. I'd forgotten or not been told, we ('we') are doing the captions for the exhibition this week. Bronze sculptures done, epoxy not yet, paintings? Discrete numbers I think. Luckily all being picked up at the house, and trucked down to Girona. A very nice, physically strong and inventive young man with expertise, from a Foundation elsewhere, has offered his help in setting up.

[OFSO]

Wrapping paintings and sculptures continues unabated. Keep losing the end of the sellotape. Collection of Art is Wednesday. Show opens Thursday.

[Pontius Navigator]

Karearea,
I tried rewriting them without using what I thought might be trigger words; didn't work.
Tried reformating and changing the order of words; didn't work.
I then wrote longer emails without changing any of the words, which worked.
So, in my case, emails longer than 3 paragraphs haven't been sent to spam.
I did also change the subject line to something less generic, so that may have made a difference.
Hope this helps.

That reminds me. A fair number of years ago some spam messages had masses of drivel at the beginning to push the payload below the filters. I think it was called Spamdrel. The text was readable for a sentence or two then followed a further passage unrelated to the previous.

Not seen that for at least 10 years.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Just discovered another parcel didn't arrive today.
The reason for the missed delivery was, and I quote, "Missed delivery".
I don't think they understand what reason means.
Just how useless are these companies?