I love form letter advertising, especially the kind where they try to insert your name or address into the text to make it seem like the letter was written specifically to you. My personal corporation is named Horse Feathers, Inc. (Yes, after the Marx Brothers movie of the same name) and every week or so, I receive a letter to "Dear Mr. Feathers," or sometimes to "Dear Mr. Inc.," telling me of the joy that will greet the Feathers family when my purchase arrives at P.O. Box Avenue. One time, I got a letter from a company that charges you to research your family tree, saying that they had made some amazing discoveries, including possible unclaimed inheritances, in the Inc family tree.
The Internet, of course, finds a new electronic twist for every old scam in the world. I presently have about eight website addresses registered. They are all now receiving this form e-mail with little key words from each site dropped into the appropriate spots. The spelling and punctuation are exact, except that I have redacted the name of the company involved, which is a firm that hosts websites on its server. The letter purports to be from an individual who works with the company…
Hello, I had the pleasure of visiting your site "POVonline.com". Its interesting to see that you have created a site, which presents commendable information about a wide range of topics which includes Comedy, Animation, Cartoon Voices and so on. The links "Hollywood" and "My Comics" that you have included has been described well. The "NEWS Archives" section that you have included adds value to your site. I visited quite a lot of sites, and would like to kindly recommend a professional makeover for your entire web site (http://povonline.com). I work at [name of hosting company], and would like to offer you to redesign your complete web site absolutely free of charge. You will only be asked to pay for the monthly hosting, which is only $9.95/mo. There are no other fees, and there is absolutely no risk from your end. If you are not satisfied with our work, you will not be asked to pay anything. Please let me know if you would be interested in this offer (in fact, I can't imagine why you wouldn't be).
Well, how about the fact that you don't write English well enough to put together a coherent website? And that your e-mails are full of line-break codes that shouldn't be there? But apart from that, it's a helluva deal.