I'm against censorship. But communications can be destroyed, not
just by censorship, but also by being drowned out by vast amounts
of unwanted off-topic spam, scams, and slop.
For instance I recently had to await a phone call from a termite exterminator. If I didn't answer, he'd assume nobody was home, and
would not show up. So I had to field over a hundred scam calls while > waiting for one legitimate call.
On 24/10/2025 4:20 am, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
<Snip>
I'm against censorship. But communications can be destroyed, notfor one legitimate call.
just by censorship, but also by being drowned out by vast amounts
of unwanted off-topic spam, scams, and slop.
For instance I recently had to await a phone call from a termite
exterminator. If I didn't answer, he'd assume nobody was home, and
would not show up. So I had to field over a hundred scam calls while > waiting
I was in a similar situation with scam calls some time ago ....
To make matters worse, for some reason, the phones wall plug is in the
main bedroom ... where I don't spend much time unless I'm sleeping ....
so, if the phone rang, I'd have to rush from wherever I was in the house >into the main bedroom BEFORE the phone rang out.
Then I brought an Answer Machine so I could wait to hear if it was
someone that I actually wanted to talk to.
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says I'm
not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has usually hung >up!!
Job DONE.
----
Daniel70
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says I'm
not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has usually hung up!!
Job DONE.
On 10/24/2025 05:01, Daniel70 wrote:
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says I'm
not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has usually hung
up!!
Job DONE.
Many years ago, back when I still had a land line, I was getting
bombarded with spam dials every day. Then I saw something on the shelf
at Wal-Mart (stop laughing :) ) that claimed to help cut down on those >calls. What you did is you plugged this thing into the wall jack, then
plug the phone into the other end. What this thing did was every time
the phone rang and you either picked up, or let the answering machine
pick up, it would send out the three tones that lets the calling party
know that a phone number is disconnected, or otherwise not in service.
When a spam dial hears those tones, they would stop calling the number
in question.
It worked...within a month the spam dials dropped off to almost nothing.
Of course, I had to let friends and family and any business I wanted to
talk to know that they needed to ignore those tones.
----
Intelligence is no guarantee against being dead wrong.
--Carl Sagan
On 10/24/2025 05:01, Daniel70 wrote:
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says I'm
not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has usually
hung up!!
Job DONE.
Many years ago, back when I still had a land line, I was getting
bombarded with spam dials every day.-a Then I saw something on the shelf
at Wal-Mart (stop laughing :) ) that claimed to help cut down on those calls.-a What you did is you plugged this thing into the wall jack, then plug the phone into the other end.-a What this thing did was every time
the phone rang and you either picked up, or let the answering machine
pick up, it would send out the three tones that lets the calling party
know that a phone number is disconnected, or otherwise not in service.
When a spam dial hears those tones, they would stop calling the number
in question.
It worked...within a month the spam dials dropped off to almost nothing.
Of course, I had to let friends and family and any business I wanted to
talk to know that they needed to ignore those tones.
On 25/10/2025 2:30 am, Hornplayer9599 wrote:
On 10/24/2025 05:01, Daniel70 wrote:So it resulted in you being de-listed ... by/to the Spam Bots. Good.
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says I'm
not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has usually
hung up!!
Job DONE.
Many years ago, back when I still had a land line, I was getting
bombarded with spam dials every day.a Then I saw something on the shelf
at Wal-Mart (stop laughing :) ) that claimed to help cut down on those
calls.a What you did is you plugged this thing into the wall jack, then
plug the phone into the other end.a What this thing did was every time
the phone rang and you either picked up, or let the answering machine
pick up, it would send out the three tones that lets the calling party
know that a phone number is disconnected, or otherwise not in service.
When a spam dial hears those tones, they would stop calling the number
in question.
It worked...within a month the spam dials dropped off to almost nothing.
Of course, I had to let friends and family and any business I wanted to
talk to know that they needed to ignore those tones.
On 2025-10-25 09:23:45 +0000, Daniel70 said:
On 25/10/2025 2:30 am, Hornplayer9599 wrote:
On 10/24/2025 05:01, Daniel70 wrote:So it resulted in you being de-listed ... by/to the Spam Bots. Good.
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says I'm >>>> not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has usually
hung up!!
Job DONE.
Many years ago, back when I still had a land line, I was getting
bombarded with spam dials every day.a Then I saw something on the shelf >>> at Wal-Mart (stop laughing :) ) that claimed to help cut down on those
calls.a What you did is you plugged this thing into the wall jack, then >>> plug the phone into the other end.a What this thing did was every time
the phone rang and you either picked up, or let the answering machine
pick up, it would send out the three tones that lets the calling party
know that a phone number is disconnected, or otherwise not in service.
When a spam dial hears those tones, they would stop calling the number
in question.
It worked...within a month the spam dials dropped off to almost nothing. >>> Of course, I had to let friends and family and any business I wanted to >>> talk to know that they needed to ignore those tones.
We've always had an unlisted landline number, which cuts down on spam
calls, although of course doesn't work with robo-callers (computer >controlled or people simply dialling sequential numbers). We have very >rarely ever gotten spam calls at all.
On 2025-10-25 09:23:45 +0000, Daniel70 said:
On 25/10/2025 2:30 am, Hornplayer9599 wrote:
On 10/24/2025 05:01, Daniel70 wrote:So it resulted in you being de-listed ... by/to the Spam Bots. Good.
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says
I'm not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has
usually hung up!!
Job DONE.
Many years ago, back when I still had a land line, I was getting
bombarded with spam dials every day.-a Then I saw something on the
shelf at Wal-Mart (stop laughing :) ) that claimed to help cut down
on those calls.-a What you did is you plugged this thing into the wall
jack, then plug the phone into the other end.-a What this thing did
was every time the phone rang and you either picked up, or let the
answering machine pick up, it would send out the three tones that
lets the calling party know that a phone number is disconnected, or
otherwise not in service.
When a spam dial hears those tones, they would stop calling the
number in question.
It worked...within a month the spam dials dropped off to almost nothing. >>> Of course, I had to let friends and family and any business I wanted
to talk to know that they needed to ignore those tones.
We've always had an unlisted landline number, which cuts down on spam
calls, although of course doesn't work with robo-callers (computer controlled or people simply dialling sequential numbers). We have very rarely ever gotten spam calls at all.
On 26/10/2025 9:48 am, Your Name wrote:
On 2025-10-25 09:23:45 +0000, Daniel70 said:Yeah, I'm thinking the robo-callers can 'sense' when my Answer Machine
On 25/10/2025 2:30 am, Hornplayer9599 wrote:
On 10/24/2025 05:01, Daniel70 wrote:So it resulted in you being de-listed ... by/to the Spam Bots. Good.
So now that Answer Machine (eventually) answers the call and says
I'm not home .... by which time the Spammers Dialer machine has
usually hung up!!
Job DONE.
Many years ago, back when I still had a land line, I was getting
bombarded with spam dials every day.-a Then I saw something on the
shelf at Wal-Mart (stop laughing :) ) that claimed to help cut down
on those calls.-a What you did is you plugged this thing into the wall >>>> jack, then plug the phone into the other end.-a What this thing did
was every time the phone rang and you either picked up, or let the
answering machine pick up, it would send out the three tones that
lets the calling party know that a phone number is disconnected, or
otherwise not in service.
When a spam dial hears those tones, they would stop calling the
number in question.
It worked...within a month the spam dials dropped off to almost nothing. >>>> Of course, I had to let friends and family and any business I wanted
to talk to know that they needed to ignore those tones.
We've always had an unlisted landline number, which cuts down on spam
calls, although of course doesn't work with robo-callers (computer
controlled or people simply dialling sequential numbers). We have very
rarely ever gotten spam calls at all.
kicks into action, too. Maybe the Impedance on the phone line is
different for an Answer machine compared to an actual Phone.
----
Daniel70
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