# What's with all of the "One weird old tip/trick/method" spam online today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723 "2011-03-07T01:24:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/1 "2011-03-07T01:24:42Z")
You name it and there certainly a “single old tip that is so weird and easy” to do it. I’ve seen it all: Grow your dick. Lose weight. Get rich. Clear acne. Get pussy. All of these ads have some mention of “crazy old secret makes this so easy”. They are literally EVERYWHERE online. Where did this originate and what is the scam? What type of “old trick” do they deliver? ---
**Author:** ![Romeo\_and\_Whatsherface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Romeo\_and\_Whatsherface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romeo_and_Whatsherface)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/2 "2011-03-07T01:50:14Z")
Some of my high school students told me they checked out an ad that said something like “Town X Mom discovers one weird, old trick for whitening teeth.” We live in Town X, and they recognized the woman’s photo. The “weird old trick” turned out to be a combination of different tooth whiteners that are, naturally, only available from this online source. I guess the “weird” part was supposed to be that ONE of these products alone would not do the job; no, you had to buy BOTH. :rolleyes: Yeesh. I don’t know about the penis enlargement ads. I’d think an old trick would probably do less for penile enhancement than a young trick. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/3 "2011-03-07T04:23:59Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Grow your dick. > Lose weight. > Get rich. > Clear acne. > Get pussy. Yup, that’s the way to do it (though I did it in a slightly different order; I took care of the acne early on). But, seriously, you get spam about _increasing_ penis size? Because I get tons of stuff about penis _reduction_. I guess we’re on different lists. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/4 "2011-03-07T04:31:28Z")
They also have the weirdest goddamn photos accompanying them. I always see headshots of exaggeratedly ugly or weird-looking guys for the “go back to school” type banner ads, including one of a guy with a beard that grows longer and turns white when you mouse over it. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/5 "2011-03-07T04:47:28Z")
Spammers are often participants in a pyramid scheme. The guy spamming you with that stuff doesn’t really want to sell you a few pills, because that’s not where the real money is. He wants you to sell pills for him. People have generally caught on to the unadorned “how to get rich quick” schemes, so instead they usually involve a product. But the product is a MacGuffin; it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s just there to help the pyramid scheme seem more substantial. So the preferred products are those that are very cheap to duplicate: e-books, software, “systems”, magic beans. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/6 "2011-03-07T05:46:00Z")
> [@Uncertain](#): > > But, seriously, you get spam about _increasing_ penis size? Because I get tons of stuff about penis _reduction_. I guess we’re on different lists. Probably the spammers wised up and realized that no guy would ever buy penis reduction stuff (spam or not). That was not understanding the male psyche well. I mean, plenty of women have went into the doctor’s to have their breasts reduced. But I will bet huge sums of money that there has never been a conversation in a plastic surgeon’s office that began with the words "Yeah, my weiner’s too big … " ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/7 "2011-03-07T05:53:16Z")
I think he was just joking. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/8 "2011-03-07T06:16:51Z")
**Qadgop the Mercotan** once wrote of one of his patients asking for [a reversal of a botched enlargement procedure](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=273825), though. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/9 "2011-03-07T08:24:08Z")
His patient’s main complaint wasn’t that it was too large, but that sex was no longer enjoyable, in fact, sex hurt. That was one of the best laughs I’ve ever had, though. And I told my husband that if he ever wanted to embiggen his penis, that he should go to someone who didn’t want to be paid in nose candy. ---
**Author:** ![Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hero_From_Sector_7G)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/10 "2011-03-08T15:59:27Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Probably the spammers wised up and realized that no guy would ever buy penis reduction stuff (spam or not). That was not understanding the male psyche well. > > I mean, plenty of women have went into the doctor’s to have their breasts reduced. But I will bet huge sums of money that there has never been a conversation in a plastic surgeon’s office that began with the words "Yeah, my weiner’s too big … " What is the noise a joke make flying over a small penis? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/11 "2011-03-08T19:18:59Z")
I always see the “one weird old trick to reducing belly fat.” Maybe the internet knows I’m fat! But seriously, I’d like to know what the trick is that’s being referred to. Idle curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/12 "2011-03-09T01:48:12Z")
I’m wondering too. And why “old”? Is it a psychological thing? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/13 "2011-03-09T09:25:36Z")
[Deja Vu?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=598832&highlight=%22weird+trick%22) ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/14 "2011-03-09T22:06:54Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > But seriously, I’d like to know what the trick is that’s being referred to. Idle curiosity. If you hang around the parts of the internet frequented by spammers and scammers, you’ll notice that they’re all trying to sell each other various schemes to get more traffic, more backlinks, more people to fill in forms, more ad clicks, more affiliate signups. And the way those schemes are often promoted is, “one easy trick to increase traffic”, “guaranteed method to make $x in y hours”, etc. All you have to do is buy this free e-book to find out how, or sign up for this seminar, or whatever. Can you guess what secret method is described in the e-book? ---
**Author:** ![bleibtreu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bleibtreu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleibtreu)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/15 "2011-03-09T22:18:02Z")
> [@Romeo\_and\_Whatsherface](#): > > We live in Town X, and they recognized the woman’s photo. Sure, you’ll always live in or at least close to “Town X” because your IP address is being looked up. I live in Brooklyn but my Verizon DSL IP is listed as being in Queens. So for me those ads always place me in either Whitestone or Jamaica. The photos, of course, have little or no connection to the products. I saw one a couple of weeks ago where I recognized the woman in the photo of a “skin care secret” ad. That same shot had been in the news just days before… she was a murder victim. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/16 "2011-03-09T22:59:04Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I’m wondering too. And why “old”? Is it a psychological thing? No doubt an homage to Old Weird Harold. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/17 "2011-03-09T23:22:14Z")
I believe I get some ads where the one weird old trick was discovered by a Single Mom. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/18 "2011-03-10T00:42:56Z")
Yes - why a single mom? All of mine are discovered by Single Moms as well, even though I’m married and childless. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/19 "2011-03-10T00:51:21Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Yes - why a single mom? All of mine are discovered by Single Moms as well, even though I’m married and childless. Because “discovered by single mom”, “one old trick”, ip-geolocation, stolen people photos, before/after shots, and so on, are the methods described recently in the e-books and seminars that spammers and scammers sell to less experienced spammers and scammers. We’re seeing these methods frequently because they are the methods that have filtered down towards the bottom of the pyramid. The smarter bad guys are up the top, selling new and improved methods for beating the old tricks. Give it 6 months and you’ll see what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723/20 "2011-03-10T02:17:53Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Yes - why a single mom? Maybe she became a single mom in the first place by turning weird old tricks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-of-the-one-weird-old-tip-trick-method-spam-online-today/573723.md?page=2)