Michael S. Cox Is A Spammer

April 6, 2006

Okay, everyone gets spam, and everyone hates spammers. But right now I'm really tee'd off at this guy:

From: "Michael S. Cox" <michaelscox@poczta.neostrada.pl>
To: Dori Smith
Subject: chalcedony.com
Date: April 5, 2006

Hello,
Would you be interested in selling your domain chalcedony.com?
I can offer you $3000 [paid by escrow.com or paypal].
I await your reply,
Michael S. Cox

I don't do business with anyone on the 'net without doing a little research. To make a long story short, try this yourself: do a Google search on "Michael S. Cox offers unique fine quality designer art jewelry available in .925 sterling silver, gemstone, and gold". Over four hundred hits on a quote that's that specific? It's a sure sign of a spammer.

But this message to the Debian-laptop list was the smoking gun.

My reply to him:

Are you the same Michael S. Cox mentioned at <http://lists.debian.org/debian-laptop/2003/12/msg00017.html>? If so, no — we're not interested in your money.

His reply:

No, I'm not the same person.  If you would be interested
in selling your domain, please feel free to send me an
email.
 
Thanks,
Michael

My response to that:

Wow — there are two entirely unrelated people in Poland that have identical names? That's impressive, especially when you consider that "Michael S. Cox" isn't a Polish name. It becomes downright amazing when I find that you both have an interest in "chalcedony."

According to this page, there exists an "AUTUMN GALLERY - Oregon, USA and Krakow, Poland. Handmade Jewelry. Collection of contemporary art jewelry, handcrafted by goldsmith and jewelry designer Michael S. Cox."

"Autumn Gallery" is the site that your doppelganger spammed on the debian-laptop list.

The page here shows a piece of jewelry by "Michael S. Cox," which is described as being made of jasper, chrysoprase … and … chalcedony.

So, if you're not the spamming jewelry designer, what is your interest in a domain named chalcedony.com? Given that you're making a claim I find to be extraordinarily unlikely, I have to ask you for some real evidence.

His next response, which provided the impetus for this blog post:

Ok... now I understand why the hostility / frustration... 10 out
10 time it always points to the same thing >
 
http://static.userland.com/images/wmf/DoriSmith.jpg [yuck!]
 
I have no affiliation with Autumn Gallery, I do not send spam
mail, not sure what this is about.  Anyways, I'll leave it at
that.
 
Too much time on your hands maybe?  Good grief!
 
Thank you for your time,
Michael

Wow. Some thoughts come to mind:

• Yes, that "[yuck!]" really was in his email.

• Does he think that ten of ten people that don't like spam are unattractive, or does that statistic only apply to women? Even if it's just the latter, it's clear he's never met Anne Mitchell, CEO of ISIPP (Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy).

• It ain't like I haven't been told before that I'm unattractive (hey, I had two older brothers!). It's not breaking news. But someday I'll be dead, and this blog post with his name and proof of his spamming will still exist, and will still show up highly ranked in Google. That works for me.

To help that process of promoting his name recognition, if you have a blog, could you please link to this post? I've put it into easy copy and paste format for you:

Thanks!

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Want more? Sadly, this wasn't the end of the story. You can read part 2 and part 3.