The best spam comment ever
Hello, people! I apologize for my inattention to the Smoking Lounge; we (by which I mean the secret feminist cabal that rules the world) are getting ready to launch our new thingy. Hopefully tomorrow. Yeah, I know it was gonna be a few weeks ago, but talk to the hand.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share the latest pearl from my spam filter. I don’t usually save spam comments, but this one is wonderful:
Advantageously, the article is really the sweetest on this precious subject. I harmonize along with your conclusions and will eagerly watch for ones own incoming updates. Saying thank you will not just be ample, for your great clarity in your writing. I will without delay snap up your rss to keep privy of every updates. Authentic work and much success in your business enterprise!
My first thought was that it was a machine translation, but it’s almost too perfectly machine-like, if you know what I mean. It’s almost like a human being trying to sound like a machine — a reverse Turing, if you will.
Thoughts?
19 Responses to “The best spam comment ever”
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LabRat says:
The scenario for artificial intelligence proposed by one Cory Doctorow short story is that the arms race between spambots and spam detectors to emulate true intelligence/eliminate inferior copies results in true intelligence.
Sometimes I think that may have been very prescient.
March 5th, 2010 at 12:07 am EST -
Briar says:
Ah, but what is true intelligence? If it is something that can evolve in a machine constructed by a species as dubiously intelligent as homo sapiens is that intelligence? Only if it is allowed to define itself (as we are, with our stupid tests which prove we can do tests we have devised to produce the answers we want, for instance) maybe.
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purplefinn says:
“Advantageously” and “every updates” stand out for me. I have attempted a translation: “Let me be your lap dog.”
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bluelyon says:
It’s like Roget’s Thesaurus threw up all over the screen!
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DancingOpossum says:
Wow, I just love that. I actually have to finish up a book review for work; I think I’ll just transcribe that and be done!
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votermom says:
It’s like making first contact with an alien race via the intertubes.
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boc c says:
To the sender of this travesty…As the legal representatives for Uniblab, we object to the derogatory way humans view machines and your furtherance of that view. You have violated Robot’s Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future, immediately!
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bob c says:
Sorry for misspelling my own name. Clicked too soon!
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monchichipox says:
My work email address somehow got on a Korean spammers mailing list. They sell hmmmm I’ll call it sexual enhancement products. The senders “name” is Couchy O’Leary. It cracks me up every time I see I can bear to put the sender on the spam filter. If I ever write a book I think Couchy O’Leary is going to be my nomme de plume.
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Cyn says:
I don’t what it is, but if I believed, it would scare the bejesus out of me.
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Gayle says:
ESL? Maybe someone’s comment went through a translator program?
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Jeff says:
Northern European, maybe? On one side my grandparents are Swedish and Norwegian, and I swear I hear a “Ya” or two hanging around in the cadence.
Probably they shouldn’t have tried the translation with The Russian Bible Society’s “Goods Your English” they picked up at the Tvedestrand Dollar General.
But it did sound like a sincere compliment.
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Nessum says:
Sorry Violet, but I just had to: Laugh Out Loud!
As someone whose first language isn’t English, I have absolutely no problem understanding that comment. :D
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Three Wickets says:
Definitely English as a second language. Earnest, perhaps too earnest, trying to level up to the standards on this site. You apparently have a big fan. English came to me as a second language as well. Let me have a crack at translating..
Your post on this important topic really resonates with me, and for that I am grateful. I agree with your conclusions, and I look forward to seeing more from you on my RSS feed. I can’t thank you enough for your brilliant writing. You speak the truth. Good luck with the site.
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bob c says:
Truly this was a compliment. Mine was meant to show my frustration with how our machines are viewed as separate entities rather than extensions. (at least for now) No insult, condescension, or belittling was intended. Even with English as my only language, I got the drift. You have a BIG fan, as TW said.
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lambert strether says:
OT: When Rummy talked about “Old Europe,” this is not what he meant.
NOTE On the mail: I wonder if this is a Google translation of another (non-Indo-European) language?
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Violet Socks says:
Oh, Chinese-to-English translations are the best. Victor Mair (Sinologist) posts those sometimes. The lord fucking ether net was the best.
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Nessum says:
As Three Wickets and bob c points out Violet, you’ve got yourself yet another admirer. An (intended!) very complimentary, very respectful comment!
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flybutter says:
Oh, come on.
Throw a “paradigm” or a “hegemony” in there, stir it with a “paradoxical” and garnish with “The Other” and you’ve got a dissertation.
These days.
