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Do spambots speak Esperanto?

ca, kivuye

Ubutumwa 9

ururimi: English

3rdblade (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 23 Ndamukiza 2010 05:55:30

Just a quick question, especially for those of you with blogs. Have you ever received any spam comments written in Esperanto? I get a lot of spam in English and Russian. I received a comment in Esperanto and it seems fishy, and my spam filter caught it, but spam filters occasionally make mistakes.

On another note, if spambots are speaking Esperanto now, is that like another notch on our belt? Can we be a tiny bit proud of that?

Hauxkins (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 23 Ndamukiza 2010 07:41:43

I got a comment in Esperanto in my wordpress which looked a little fishy. It was a little too neutral in tone somehow to be real, it was just generic and positive. Hopefully I'm wrong..

I guess we can be proud of that in a backwards kind of way.."Hey, other languages! We have the same problems as you now!"

jan aleksan (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 23 Ndamukiza 2010 07:44:29

Personnally I prefer that it would NEVER happen. Spaming is one of the main issues of the 21th century...

ceigered (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 23 Ndamukiza 2010 09:33:10

I think I've been asked to help a foreign businessman in dealing with a recently deceased African statesman's absurdly wealthy inheritance which can't be given to anyone else because for some reason he knew no one personally and had no relations whatsoever by giving my bank account details, in Esperanto.

The Esperanto was bad, but the logic was worse. This god-inspired-clay-born man not only was a hermit in an extreme sense (he must have just happened across $6 billion lying on the ground) but he also apparently lived in a country where there were no banks to store his money in with a government who doesn't like accepting it's own money lango.gif.

3rdblade (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 23 Ndamukiza 2010 10:14:57

I couldn't agree more, Jan. My reaction to spam is generally "Ugh! Not again!", but in the case of this Esperanto one, my first reaction was, "What, really? rideto.gif" That's also partly why I thought it was a genuine comment. I am sure the next Esperanto spam I get will not get the same reaction.

Perhaps this is a case of hontinda fiero...

erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 23 Ndamukiza 2010 12:10:30

I've never specifically heard of an Esperanto spambot.

I have encountered people with rudimentary knowledge who regularly made a nuisance of themselves on Esperanto forums/chats/blog comment posting/etc. Not sure how you necessarily distinguish between a spambot and an extremely annoying person!

There have also been hoaxes/cons in Esperanto. People tend to want to believe that someone is being genuine if they contact you in Esperanto, but it isn't always the case. There was some kind of con artist a few years back who was asking foreign Esperantists for (expensive) printer cartridges because he claimed he was translating their beloved national literature into his language. The same guy, some time later, was asking other Esperantists for money for an orphanage that didn't exist. So people do bad things, even in Esperanto, and it's good for everyone to be aware of that.

Info about the Esperanto con artist

darkweasel (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 23 Ndamukiza 2010 13:40:08

The goal of spammers is reaching as many people as possible. However, Esperanto is not widely enough known that spamming in Esperanto would make any sense currently.

In other words: Once people receive spam messages in Esperanto every day, we've reached the fina venko. lango.gif

Revanto (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 4 Rusama 2010 18:44:03

I thought that we'd reach la verda venk' once muggers would demand Vian monon aŭ vian vivon!

ceigered (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 5 Rusama 2010 06:12:45

Revanto:I thought that we'd reach la verda venk' once muggers would demand Vian monon aŭ vian vivon!
Or better: "Vi mon a' vi viv!" (the mugger better hope that their would-be-victim isn't a grammarian!)

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