C'mon Mark, I'm not buying it.
After getting caught in his latest spam-fest, Mark Towner is now trying to claim he setup some kind of intentional "trap" to "catch me". (Catch me doing what, exactly, I have yet to figure out.) I'm guessing that in his warped state of mind he somehow thought that if he dropped his entire subscriber list in my lap (and subsequently exposed it to over 5800 other people) that he'd somehow prove his subscriber numbers. All he's proven is that 1) he has a list of 5800 e-mail addresses (a few of which complained about the lastest spamming) and 2) the list doesn't account for the numbers he claimed back in June. In short, he proved nothing except that he still forces people onto his list without permission and is willing to violate the ToS for whatever provider he happens to be on.
Here's where the specious claims continue. He claims that if I ignored the subscription e-mail he sent that I wouldn't have received anything. Last I checked, a "you're subscribed" means just that. He then continues to go further off the deep end by claiming that this list is somehow opt-in. Given that I've already seen at least 3 other complaints about being forced onto the list, I'm skeptical there as well. In fact, the people receiving this stuff at work probably keep on dropping it into the Spam bin. The kicker is that he thinks he can intimidate me (or anyone else logging in with the information he provided) by saying he has our IP addresses. Oh no, some make-believe pirate has my IP address. Whatever will I do?
The real point is that Bluehost will cancel his account for sending spam and he'll have to go shopping for yet another provider. Don't you get it, Mark? As long as you continue to send unsolicited bulk messages and violate the ToS, we'll always have a way to shut you down. The only way to end this is to use opt-in lists only. It's really not that hard and it's certainly the ethical way to go. If you don't clean up your behavior soon, there's going to be nothing but negative about you when someone does a Google search.
Jesse
Shauna
Harris,
You were so easy to catch and expose for what you really are. I got you nailed bubba. What a freaking idiot. This was the best “fishing” trip ever. And thanks for getting your little blogger friends to take the bait as well. So where is your “lookup” tool hotshot? Where is Paul Rolly’s outrage? Could it be I told him I was going to set you up? I’m sure the total of 6 people who follow your blog will be thrilled. As far a Google search’s is this your end game Jess, try to hurt me in the search engine arena? You are soooo stupid. If you want a flame war, your messing with the wrong guy. Bring your best game.
LOL
If you could spell, I might be intimidated.
“little blogger friends?”
“set up”
“end game”
Wow. Someone’s gone off their meds.
Holy crap. That dude is not just a few fries short of a Happy Meal, he’s missing all of them.
I wonder if 5800 people would read my blog (voluntarily, of course) if I was that coocoo for CoCo Puffs.
Does his bishop know he’s a lying, spamming, unethical jerk?
I just wish he’d stop changing distributors. I am tired of endlessly unsubscribing!
Natalie: It’s kind of like a game of whack-a-mole, isn’t it? It seems, though, that my aim is pretty good.
What gets me in all of this is that Mark is pretty much saying “Hey, I’m willing to risk the privacy and security of my 5800 ‘voluntary’ subscribers in order to satisfy a personal vendetta.” That’s really disturbing, isn’t it?
Here’s a trip down memory lane (at least for me). I was elected to be a County delegate at my friendly neighborhood Republican Caucus. Shortly after submitting the information requested by the Party including my e-mail address I was added to the “Salt Lake County GOP” yahoo-group mailing list. I naturally assumed this was a Party oriented website to allow delegates to discuss the upcoming nominating convention (it did after all use the Republican party logo). I soon found out this list was not sanctioned by the party, but it was set up on the personal initiative of Mark Towner. I even spoke to the County Party leadership about the ethics of a site posing as an official party site.
Ever since, I have been able to follow the on-line aspirations of Mark Towner because I keep getting signed up to participate in nearly everything he is associated with; from UPD (which I actually kept subscribing to) to the latest list (which Mark claims was a trap) from spyglass.us. I reckon I’ll continue to hear from him until I abandon that e-mail address.
Spammer is as spammer does. Thats wha’ my momma always said…
Thanks for your article. I seriously was wondering why I kept getting these things from Spyglass. I thought it was some Republican thing at first, but it’s a little too extreme for me. I did have the suspicion that he got my address from Republican databases, which is very unethical and undermines the value of the information for legitmate candidates. Exploit and use whatever you can for your own personal gain is not a very admirable life philosphy. Why do the Republicans continue to put up with this “profit at any cost” blight on their otherwise reasonable ideological positions.
His little reply to your blog just set his idiocy in stone for me. You don’t even need to say anything. He makes himself look moronic.
It’s really fun to watch all these stories roll into one place. And Bobbie, you’re right: just step to the side and let the crazy person do the work for you.
When I get Spam, I delete it. I don’t read it. I open it to see if there’s an un-subscribe link and if there’s not then I add it to Yahoo’s Spam list. This makes me wonder…
If other people are doing the same thing, then aren’t most people not reading his emails? What is he hoping to accomplish except that he’s annoying people?
Response to all you Towner Haters.
1) Why did Jesse who hates my guts (mutual) go ahead and subscribe to the egroup, then “Steal” download the list of email addresses, for what purpose Jesse. You are such a liar and phony. So tell us all Grizzley Adams, what did you and your friends do with the edited list (Regiistered Republicans, of which you are one I believe), news outlets, and people who should be outed for useing Government owned or Employer owned computer systems for personal reasons during working hours.
To Keith, yes I created a list of Republican email addresses for a e-group that could talk about Republican issues. Since the County and State Party were unable to accomplish this on their own, and every time they tried, it blew up. I created this e-group in 2004, and have turned it over to the 150 or so members still on the group. Since I have departed ways with the Republican Party and have formed a new party here in Utah, I have no need or desire to continue to have these email addresses. So you can assume that 5800 email addresses will never ever receive another email from me unless they joined the subscription like Jesse.
So Jesse, how do you explain you and your friends actions?
Mark Towner
They lost something very special when you “departed ways” with the Republican party, Mark.
If by “subscribe” you mean “got an e-mail opting me into it without my permission or consent”, then yes, I “subscribed”. So what, now you’re saying it’s not a “trap” as you previously insinuated? C’mon Mark… where’s the consistency?
As far as being a Republican, I’ve never been registered as a Republican. When I moved to Utah, I registered as part of the Constitution Party (a group, I might add, as bad about sending spam as you are) and later went unaffiliated. You keep on insisting that these e-mail addresses are for Republicans, but that doesn’t explain why generic inboxes (i.e. [email protected]) ended up on the list either. That’s the list of a spammer, Mark, and getting to peek at it just confirms it.