October 27, 2006
It probably doesn't suprise anyone that I am sometimes considered arrogant. In my defense, this usually happens at precisely the same time that people find out that I can put those three letters after my name: Ph.D. I hear others make comments around work that are considered 'being open and honest,' but if they came from me would be followed with mutterings of 'arrogant ass.' Whatever. Then there are times like now. Why would people not expect me to come off arrogant when surrounded by so many idiots?
Years ago, every now and then some SPAMmer will latch on to one of our large aliases and send crap to a huge number of people. Intelligent folks just delete it and move on. However, there are the idiot-masses that respond to everyone with a request to be removed from the alias. Every employee has the ability to go into an on-line tool and remove themselves from aliases, although there are some that are necessary for business that prohibit removal. This hasn't been a problem in quite a while since the company's infrastructure has developed and employed fairly robust anti-SPAM software as well as limitations to the alias that keep people outside the internal network from using the alias, and denying replies to the alias. However, recently it appears one large alias was overlooked.
The SPAM came in, and I deleted it. Of course, one idiot responded to everyone with the request to be removed. I shook my head, and deleted that one, too... knowing that the avalanche was about to begin. Sure enough, it turns out idiots are like lemmings. Once one person publicly asked to be removed, a hundred others do the same. One of our senior executives, and a brilliant person, sent out an e-mail in an attempt to stop the tidal wave by indicating that there was no need to reply to everyone, or request removal from the alias. Shortly after he sent that, ten more requests filed into my inbox. To frustrate me further, many of these people claim to be executives of whatever, and one was even claiming to be a 'software specialist.'
As a company that is in the business of making money, I did some quick calculations about what this cost. There are about 10,000 people on this alias (probably more). It takes on average about five seconds for the one to see the e-mail, and delete it. So, for every moronic response to the SPAM, about 50,000 seconds of company time are burned. That's almost 14 hours. Given what Human Resources considers company cost per head, that is a loss of over $1000 each occurrence. One hundred responses? That's $100k freakin' down the tubes.
Freakin' get a clue people...
Hmmmph...
Years ago, every now and then some SPAMmer will latch on to one of our large aliases and send crap to a huge number of people. Intelligent folks just delete it and move on. However, there are the idiot-masses that respond to everyone with a request to be removed from the alias. Every employee has the ability to go into an on-line tool and remove themselves from aliases, although there are some that are necessary for business that prohibit removal. This hasn't been a problem in quite a while since the company's infrastructure has developed and employed fairly robust anti-SPAM software as well as limitations to the alias that keep people outside the internal network from using the alias, and denying replies to the alias. However, recently it appears one large alias was overlooked.
The SPAM came in, and I deleted it. Of course, one idiot responded to everyone with the request to be removed. I shook my head, and deleted that one, too... knowing that the avalanche was about to begin. Sure enough, it turns out idiots are like lemmings. Once one person publicly asked to be removed, a hundred others do the same. One of our senior executives, and a brilliant person, sent out an e-mail in an attempt to stop the tidal wave by indicating that there was no need to reply to everyone, or request removal from the alias. Shortly after he sent that, ten more requests filed into my inbox. To frustrate me further, many of these people claim to be executives of whatever, and one was even claiming to be a 'software specialist.'
As a company that is in the business of making money, I did some quick calculations about what this cost. There are about 10,000 people on this alias (probably more). It takes on average about five seconds for the one to see the e-mail, and delete it. So, for every moronic response to the SPAM, about 50,000 seconds of company time are burned. That's almost 14 hours. Given what Human Resources considers company cost per head, that is a loss of over $1000 each occurrence. One hundred responses? That's $100k freakin' down the tubes.
Freakin' get a clue people...
Hmmmph...