Shocker: Porn Spam Generates More Clicks Than Other Spam

from the click-click-click dept

Wonder why there's so much porn spam? Probably not -- because it's fairly obvious that plenty of people are clicking on porn spam -- though it is interesting to see the differential between porn spam and other types of spam when it comes to following through on the "call to action." It seems that all other types of spam have an incredibly low response rate (usually tiny fractions of a percent), but porn spam actually gets clicked on by approximately 5% of email users. Apparently folks who know that spam isn't trustworthy enough to buy fake drugs, figure there's not much harm in seeing if the porn site has anything worthwhile, even if it comes from spammers.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Brian, 26 Apr 2006 @ 8:26pm

    Teh Shocker

    I clicked on "Shocker" in the title, but it isn't a hyperlink :(

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Mike (profile), 26 Apr 2006 @ 8:33pm

    Re: Teh Shocker

    I clicked on "Shocker" in the title, but it isn't a hyperlink :(

    Hmm? The titles are permalinks to the story on our site. The link to the full story is the link *within* the story.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Dylan johnston, 26 Apr 2006 @ 8:40pm

    I have to do it.

    O RLY?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    c0ke, 26 Apr 2006 @ 8:48pm

    ya rly

    A big site like this could have gotten major click-throughs with a porn affiliate program from this story. For shame..

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    TheSeer, 26 Apr 2006 @ 10:53pm

    Re: Re: Teh Shocker

    The cookie that determines if comments are threaded or flattened. It may just be me but I find it expires too quickly.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    ?, 26 Apr 2006 @ 10:53pm

    $$

    I make some pretty good dough from people who follow those links. Not enough mind you, but if all my computer customers stopped clicking on those links, it would be noticed on the bottom line.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Paul, 26 Apr 2006 @ 10:57pm

    #1 was making a joke, trying to click on "shocker" because of "the shocker" hand gesture / sexual move.

    Right over your head #2

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Darknet, 27 Apr 2006 @ 12:17am

    Not surprising people, people love porn, that's just a fact!

    They know they don't need any more generic viagra, cialis or whatever else.

    But no one has ever had enough porn!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    phreakindee, 27 Apr 2006 @ 5:40am

    Re: Re: Teh Shocker

    is it just me, or am i the only one that figures the guy was referring to "the shocker", a symbol commonly associated with p0rn and sex..

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2006 @ 7:15am

    Re: Re: Re: Teh Shocker

    is it just me, or am i the only one that figures the guy was referring to "the shocker", a symbol commonly associated with p0rn and sex..


    Apparently its not just you because #7 figured it out about 7 hours earlier. But obviously your not so quick so I'm guessing others figured it out as well.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Joe Smith, 27 Apr 2006 @ 8:22am

    Free Samples

    If the other spam purveyors offered immediate free samples, like the porn sites, when you click on their links then maybe they would get a higher response rate.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Marlon Legaspi, 4 Oct 2006 @ 4:12am

    3203 Antel Global Building
    Julia Vargas Avenue
    Ortigas Center, Pasig City
    09063306626 (Kristine)
    09225674298 (Marlon Legaspi)
    YM: gamepalhr@yahoo.com
    EMAIL: jobs@oloot.com; jobsph@gamepal.com; Kristine@gamepal.com

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.