As editorial director of Global Cement, I need my email address to be ‘out there’ so that anyone that wants to contact me can easily do so. Lots of interesting cement industry people do contact me, from all over the world, asking questions, sending the latest information, proposing an article or presentation or asking about forthcoming events. That’s fine - I welcome these ‘serious’ emails. However, I’ve recently realised that I was spending too much time dealing with spam. I might receive 10,000 emails each week, and my junk filters were set at a level that I had no false-positives. I might have to wade through 400 emails each day to find the good stuff.
Finally, however, I realised that I was using a set of spam ‘trigger words’ to decide what was spam: If an email had one of these words in its subject line, then it was definitely not legitimate. I compiled a list of words that would automatically mean that a message was junked. The number of spam emails that gets through is now very low (perhaps 50 per day). I decided to share the list with you, since it reflects what society is thinking about (or at least what the spammers think society is thinking about). Perhaps you’ll recognise some of the terms from the spam that you receive yourself? I’ve taken the very rudest words out of the list, but here are the rest:
#1; %; $50; 20/20; 6-pack; addiction; ADT; adult; aircraft carrier; alcohol; alibaba; Alzheimers; amazing; amazon code; angel; Angelina; angry; Aniston; anxiety; apartments; arousal; arrears; Asian women; attacker; available coverage; awesome; background; bald; Baltimore; batteries; beach; beautiful; belly; beneficiary; Bible; biblical; Bill Gates; billionaire; blackout; blinds; blood; blood pressure; blue pill; blueprint; boiler; boner; bored; botox; brain; Brazilian girls; breaking news; breakthrough; Bunnings; business register; calories; camera; candida; cannabis; cardio; cats; CDC; celebrity; cellulite; cherries; chiseled; cholesterol; Clinton; CNN; cockpit; coconut; concealed carry; constipation; container home; coolest; Costco; coupons; crazy; credit card; criminal; cruise; CVS; dating; deals from Amazon; debt; Degeneres; dementia; dentist; depression; diabetes; diet; disabled; discount; disease; Disney; disturbing; dog; dollar; Donald; dream; drink; DVD; Dyson; eharmony; electric; electricity; elixir; Ellen; Elllen; Elon Musk; embarrassment; energy; enrolment; erect; erectile; erection; erotic; euro millions; exercise; exotic; Experian; expire; extra space; eyesight; Facebook; Fallon; family; fat; fiesta; flashlight; flexor; flirting; floaters; flubber; flying; food; forget; Fox News; free gear; freshmen; frozen; fungal; fungus; gadget; games; get hard; get it up; gift; gift card; glasses; God; golf; Google; hack; hair; HDR; health; healthcare; hearing; heart; herb; Hilary; Hillary; hips; hired; Home Depot; home security; homeowners; hot body; hot product; hottest; humanity; hummingbird; identity; inches; ingenious; insomnia; insurance; invest; investors; ip voice; islamic; Jesus; Karyab; Kelly; kidney; killer; Kohls; last longer; Latin girl; Latin ladies; Latins; lbs; lease; limbs; limitless; limp; liver; loan; lock-down; Lori; lottery; lotto; love making; Macys; make money; manhood; Mark Cuban; marriage; match.com; medical alert; medicare; medicine; Megyn; Melissa; memory; metabolism; Metformin; Mieoko; militants; military; miracle; Mitsubishi; mobile; moles; mortgage; movies; multi-tool; muscle; music theory; my wife; nails; naive; Nasa; naughty; Navajo; Navy Seal; negative; Netflix; neuropathy; new car; new vehicle; NHS; notification; NRA; numbers in nature; numerology; obesity; omg; Oprah; orgasm; overnight; pain; pancreas; panic; parasite; pc game; pedicure; peeing; penney; perfume; pharma; piano; pig; pizza; platinum; plywood; points; Pope; poplamp; portfolio; posture; pounds; power bill; prescription; prestige; prime video; printer ink; promotion; prostate; protein; psoriasis; Putin; ransomware; razor; read music; realistic; regrow; reiki; Reilly; remedies; reward; ripped; romance; roof; roofing; Russian bride; Sam’s Club; scandal; scientific; secret; senior living; sesame street; Seuss; sex; shame; Shark Tank; shed; shock; shoot; simulator; single parent; singles; skin tag; skinny; skyrocket; slash; sleep; slimming; smart money; smartphone; snoring; solar panels; solution; stamina; staycation; STD; step program; stiff; stock price; stomach; stream; strength; strike pen; student; sucks; super hard; superfood; surgery; surprising; survival; tactical; Tesla; testosterone; timeshare; tinnitus; toenail; toner; tongue; too late; towel; toxic; trick; true love; Trump; Uber; unthinkable; urgent message; urine; vacation; veggie; video game; virility; virus outbreak; vitiligo; voucher; vulgar; Walgreens; wallet; Walmart; warning; warranty; wealthy; website; weight; weird; whitening; window; woodworking; workout; wrinkle; Xerox; yeast; yoga; young woman; youth; and finally, Zuckerberg.
It’s a veritable A-Z of spam and it suggests that we are all vain, out-of-shape, weak and shallow, obsessed with health, celebrity, status and sex. We’re not, are we?
Anyway, if you want to get an email through to me, whatever else you put in, do not put any of the above terms in the subject line... it’ll go straight in the junk!
