# Why do some spam titles end in jibberish? (contains typical spam titles) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2002, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384 "2002-08-05T05:06:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tyrrell_mcallister/32/16772_2.png) [@Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyrrell_McAllister)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/1 "2002-08-05T05:06:32Z")
I have a hotmail address I use as spam bait for whenever I have to provide an email address to register for a site, eg Amazon or ebay. I have the preferences set so that all email goes to a junk folder, which I empty every couple weeks. I’ve noticed that a lot of the spam that ends up there has the usual spam titles, followed by a meaningless sequence of letters. For example, today I deleted the following: Bl\*w Job Girls, lnrm  Cum Sucking Hoes, kaxrslsi Mortgage Rates Are Down. ihsgsfik  Cum Dribblers, wfkjlnxd  August 1, 2002 FREE XXX Pic of the Day, hgoks Does anyone here know what the significance of these letters is? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![PhilAlex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@PhilAlex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhilAlex)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/2 "2002-08-05T05:32:33Z")
Here’s why: Some Spamtraps use the subject to trap spam. They have Spamtrap Emails out there, that NEVER get real mail. So, Spamtrap gets an Email: Hot Lesbo Porn! As the subject. So, all the member emails, that have Hot Lesbo Porn! as the subject, get deleted. So, we’ll add some jibberish to the end. Everyone and every post to a newsgroup gets different jibberish. That defeats the spamtrap. ---
**Author:** ![Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tyrrell_mcallister/32/16772_2.png) [@Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyrrell_McAllister)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/3 "2002-08-05T05:38:02Z")
Thanks **PhilAlex**. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/4 "2002-08-05T10:32:58Z")
PhilAlex, can’t the Spamtrap that you mention just do the same thing, but instead of “subject equals” use “subject contains” therefore defeating the purpose of the gibberish at the end ? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/5 "2002-08-05T13:19:04Z")
> [@](#): > > So, **we’ll** add some jibberish to the end. So, you’re admitting your guilt. Nice. :putz: ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/6 "2002-08-05T15:51:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xash \* > \*\*PhilAlex, can’t the Spamtrap that you mention just do the same thing, but instead of “subject equals” use “subject contains” therefore defeating the purpose of the gibberish at the end ? \*\* Definitely. Has anyone aqtually written that? I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Riboflavin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Riboflavin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riboflavin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/7 "2002-08-05T19:34:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xash \* > \*\*PhilAlex, can’t the Spamtrap that you mention just do the same thing, but instead of “subject equals” use “subject contains” therefore defeating the purpose of the gibberish at the end ? \*\* They could, but spammers sometimes use vaguely appropriate subject lines. With a ‘contains’ filter instead of an ‘equals’ filter, you can end up deleting real messages with a similar subject line to the spam, so they’re harder to write. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/8 "2002-08-05T22:46:08Z")
As a matter of fact, all it would take is one spam message without a subject to kill all messages, if you used a “contains” filter. Every string contains the empty string. Besides, what if the sample message the spamtrap picks up is “Hot lesbo sex! ahgr”? None of the other spam messages will contain that. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/9 "2002-08-05T22:52:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*As a matter of fact, all it would take is one spam message without a subject to kill all messages, if you used a “contains” filter. Every string contains the empty string. > > Besides, what if the sample message the spamtrap picks up is “Hot lesbo sex! ahgr”? None of the other spam messages will contain that. \*\* Presumably, there would be human intervention at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/10 "2002-08-06T00:24:10Z")
**ultrafilter** : But having to weed through messages by hand anyway defeats the purpose, no? ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/11 "2002-08-06T00:30:50Z")
Usenet spam uses numbers for this. Thus if you see a message in a newsgroup titled something like “Don’t miss this! 3618” you know to give it a pass. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/12 "2002-08-06T02:24:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\ ***ultrafilter** : But having to weed through messages by hand anyway defeats the purpose, no? \*\* No, because you could tell it that the real title was “hot lesbo sex”, and it could adjust its settings accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![PhilAlex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@PhilAlex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhilAlex)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-spam-titles-end-in-jibberish-contains-typical-spam-titles/122384/13 "2002-08-06T02:32:43Z")
A real problem for some people… Not me of course… Is that they can’t use Spamtraps that exclude anything with HOT LESBO SEX, because they are actually looking for HOT LESBO SEX. Again, not me. Not me at all.