Shocker: Porn Spam Generates More Clicks Than Other Spam

from the click-click-click dept

Wed, Apr 26th 2006 7:52pm — Mike Masnick

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.

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12 Comments

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Brian, 26 Apr 2006 @ 8:26pm

Teh Shocker
I clicked on "Shocker" in the title, but it isn't a hyperlink :(
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- 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.
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  - 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.
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  - 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..
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Dylan johnston, 26 Apr 2006 @ 8:40pm

I have to do it.
O RLY?
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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..
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?, 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.
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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
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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
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