Randy Cassingham's Blog

Verizon subscribers have had quite the go of it the past few weeks. Three weeks ago their spam filter tripped on a single word in the issue, so the Premium edition was blocked from everyone at Verizon (and their subsidiaries, like GTE.net) -- even if you had followed my recommendation and put thisistrue.com and lyris.net in your personal "whitelist".

Verizon decided that one word was "bad" and bounced every issue. Since there are quite a few Premium subscribers at Verizon, that meant quite a few bounces. That, in turn, "proved" the issues you paid to get are spam, and thus the next week, they bounced it again. And then the third week, last week, again. So many of you complained to them that they called me that second week, and promised they'd fix it. (You saw how well they did!) Last week, I jumped through their stupid "Please unblock me, I'm not a spammer" hoop, and this week's issue will supposedly get through; they insist they're no longer blocking. We'll see.

(I'm happy to note: it apparently got through fine. The whole time, there was apparently no interruption with the free edition. Go figure.)

Naturally, all of these subscribers have meanwhile gotten plenty of actual spam, proving just how ineffective the filters can be: you get real spam, but don't get mail you not only want, but even paid for. How nice.

If you have such problems with your ISP (Internet Service Provider), I suggest you vote with your feet! Dump ISPs who insist they know better than you do what you want. I recommend Google's gmail: they have the best spam filters in the business (but, if they do make a mistake, you can still find it in the "spam folder" for 30 days). Extra nice: you can use them even if you can't dump your ISP (say, Verizon is the only way you can get broadband where you live), and you don't have to change your e-mail address if you do change your ISP. But don't just quit: tell them why you are dumping them. If they realize they are losing lots of customers because they do a sloppy spam filtering job, they will improve. But it will take a lot of complaints for them to notice it.

Meanwhile, as in any war, there will be casualties among the innocent.

- - -

So after saying that in Monday's issue, Art in Florida wrote to ask what word tripped their filter? "I can't be the first premium reader to be on the edge of my seat waiting for the punchline," he wrote. Surely, he said, it was something about "h u m a n    o r g a n s", right?!

Well, are you ready?

It's one of the most shocking words in the English language.

Something that Verizon clearly thinks no one should have to read, see, or think about.

The kind of perversion that corrupts the morals of our youth.

And leads to permanent, raging insanity.

So are you sure you want to know?

OK, but don't say I didn't warn you.

It was "casino".

My condolences to your survivors.