BillW50

VanguardLH wrote in :

Zaky Waky wrote:

Wow! a thread centered on BillW50 about civility, rudeness and
abrasiveness. Interesting where the "flow" moves the thread.

Yes, we others decided to go off-topic to make something worthwile out
of your flame thread.


Thanks. I'm gratified by the number of posts (15??) that you have
contributed to this thread (one that you have described as being a
troll/flame thread).

Zaky Waky wrote:

VanguardLH wrote in :

Zaky Waky wrote:

Wow! a thread centered on BillW50 about civility, rudeness and
abrasiveness. Interesting where the "flow" moves the thread.

Yes, we others decided to go off-topic to make something worthwile out
of your flame thread.


Thanks. I'm gratified by the number of posts (15??) that you have
contributed to this thread (one that you have described as being a
troll/flame thread).

Because we changed it away from a flame thread to argue on netiquette.
Turned a turd into a cloudy gem.

Wolf K wrote:

On 2014-03-08 7:14 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
[...]
So, what's to "good stuff" that has educational or information value
greater than the typical entertainment crap that is better than getting
entertained by delaying or gaming a telemarketer? [...]

TVO (TV Ontario). PBS (about half the time). BBC America (but it
commercials that interrupt the show).

And the occasional series on commercial TV, such the Murdoch Mysteries.

I actually liked PBS when it was channel 2 and even despite their annual
telethons to raise money. They had enough good shows to check the line
up when channel surfing. Hasn't been good for several years now.

I will admit that I watch Top Gear on BBC America. Those guys with
their antics, especially against each other, are good entertainment.
Not much into the car stuff, itself, though.

Alas, there's more crap on the channels than good. There is some good
but I can use a DVR to time shift that. So I'm not losing anything good
on TV just because I decide to play a telemarketer (which really isn't
as often as implied by my number of posts here). Have to be in the
right mood and in an interruptible state (not busy). Also depends on
what spiel the telemarketer goes with. I'm still waiting for the rogues
trying to tell me my computer is infected. Alas, I might not get to
play that game.

VanguardLH wrote in :

Zaky Waky wrote:

VanguardLH wrote in :

Zaky Waky wrote:

Wow! a thread centered on BillW50 about civility, rudeness and
abrasiveness. Interesting where the "flow" moves the thread.

Yes, we others decided to go off-topic to make something worthwile out
of your flame thread.


Thanks. I'm gratified by the number of posts (15??) that you have
contributed to this thread (one that you have described as being a
troll/flame thread).

Because we changed it away from a flame thread to argue on netiquette.
Turned a turd into a cloudy gem.

Well, the original post was about BillW's disruptive posts which, with your
guidence, morphed into netiquette. So despite your complaining, a
worthwhile thread after all. Thanks. But really, it's dedicated servants
like you that keep USENET relevant.

Per philo*:
It looks like they gather-up numbers from people who report them as
being generated by a robo-caller...but "nomorobo" investigates prior to
putting a number in the "blocked" list.


So far, that annoying "Card Services" has not gotten through
but I'll be able to judge better if this is really working in a few more
days.

I have had something that uses a similar model on my cell phone for the
better part of a year and robocalls have fallen off from several per
week to zero.
--
Pete Cresswell

On Sat, 08 Mar 2014 11:31:35 -0600, philo* wrote:

I've got caller ID so manage to avoid most such calls but still find
even the phone ringing to be annoying. I decided to take one from Card
Services yesterday just to see what would happen.
I told them I did not want anything to do with them and to stop calling.
The guy just said," Good luck with that" and hung up.

Since they always use a different number, to block them on my AT&T
landline would be futile.


I signed up here


http://www.nomorobo.com/


That was 24 hours ago and I did get one unwanted call (just now), but it
looks like it's helping as I usually get at least three in any 24 hour
period.


If they do nothing more than block "Card Services" I'll be happy.

The most important thing anyone can do with these types of calls is
very simple: Waste as much of the caller's time as possible. The
robocaller can be programmed to provide a different fake number with
every call. But the person making the call is the key to the
operation. No income for them = end of scam. I used to get the "card
services" calls very often. Now they might call 1-2 times per month.
It takes me 10 minutes to "NOT find" my credit card--while we are
talking. I left the card at the office (g). I want to "refinance"
$18T at virtually 0%. They go click!. "Anyone there"? I actually got
escalated up to someone else once.

Same with the calls from "Microsoft", where they call and tell me my
computer contacted them and they want "to help me". LOL !! I just make
sure I waste as much of their time as possible. For some reason, these
calls are also not coming in very often any more.

On 03/09/2014 09:37 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per philo :
It looks like they gather-up numbers from people who report them as
being generated by a robo-caller...but "nomorobo" investigates prior to
putting a number in the "blocked" list.


So far, that annoying "Card Services" has not gotten through
but I'll be able to judge better if this is really working in a few more
days.

I have had something that uses a similar model on my cell phone for the
better part of a year and robocalls have fallen off from several per
week to zero.




In case I ever get a cell phone...what kind of a service did you use?

On 03/09/2014 10:52 AM, wrote:

The most important thing anyone can do with these types of calls is
very simple: Waste as much of the caller's time as possible. The
robocaller can be programmed to provide a different fake number with
every call. But the person making the call is the key to the
operation. No income for them = end of scam. I used to get the "card
services" calls very often. Now they might call 1-2 times per month.
It takes me 10 minutes to "NOT find" my credit card--while we are
talking. I left the card at the office (g). I want to "refinance"
$18T at virtually 0%. They go click!. "Anyone there"? I actually got
escalated up to someone else once.

Same with the calls from "Microsoft", where they call and tell me my
computer contacted them and they want "to help me". LOL !! I just make
sure I waste as much of their time as possible. For some reason, these
calls are also not coming in very often any more.




Even though I'm retired I still am usually too busy to waste my time
with those *******s...but occasionally I'd be up for such a game.

If any such call would get through I think I will use your method and go
along with their thing...then tell them to hang on while I get my credit
card...and of course just set the phone down and walk away.

On Sun, 09 Mar 2014 10:59:31 -0500, philo* wrote:


Same with the calls from "Microsoft", where they call and tell me my
computer contacted them and they want "to help me". LOL !! I just make
sure I waste as much of their time as possible. For some reason, these
calls are also not coming in very often any more.




Even though I'm retired I still am usually too busy to waste my time
with those *******s...but occasionally I'd be up for such a game.

If any such call would get through I think I will use your method and go
along with their thing...then tell them to hang on while I get my credit
card...and of course just set the phone down and walk away.

Better still you could put the phone next to a radio tuned to a
predominantly talk station such as Radio 4. The only way I would be
remotely interested in trying to waste a cold-caller's time would be
one that wasted none of mine. They're being paid for their time (not a
lot, but it's a job), whereas I've got better things to do.

Rod.

Per philo*:

In case I ever get a cell phone...what kind of a service did you use?

Mine is an Android phone and the app is called "Call Control".
--
Pete Cresswell

On 09 Mar 2014, wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-8:

The most important thing anyone can do with these types of calls
is very simple: Waste as much of the caller's time as possible.

I don't believe that. The callers are very quick to hang up on you if
you take too much of their time. They'd rather move on in search of the
next mark. You're wasting your own time. They don't care.

On 3/9/2014 1:29 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per philo :

In case I ever get a cell phone...what kind of a service did you use?

Mine is an Android phone and the app is called "Call Control".

I believe what Philo means is what kind of cell phone company do you use
like AT&T, etc. I stopped carrying a cell phone back in 2003 when I
didn't need one anymore (I was using Verizon then). Although in 2012 my
car just quit on a seldom traveled road in the middle of winter. It
turned out to be the fuel pump inside of the gas tank. Luckily a
neighbor of mine came by like 30 seconds later and gave me a ride home.

I thought maybe I should get a cell phone again just in case next time I
am not so lucky. So I got one of those cheap cell phone watches (SVP) on
eBay for about 30 bucks and signed up with bare bones service with
Consumer Cellular for 10 bucks a month. They use AT&T cellphone towers.

--
Bill
Dell Latitude Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v24.3.0
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB RAM - Windows 8 Pro

On 03/09/2014 01:29 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per philo :

In case I ever get a cell phone...what kind of a service did you use?

Mine is an Android phone and the app is called "Call Control".




Thanks.


So far, it's been pretty quiet here .

On 03/09/2014 02:06 PM, BillW50 wrote:
On 3/9/2014 1:29 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per philo :

In case I ever get a cell phone...what kind of a service did you use?

Mine is an Android phone and the app is called "Call Control".

I believe what Philo means is what kind of cell phone company do you use
like AT&T, etc. I stopped carrying a cell phone back in 2003 when I
didn't need one anymore (I was using Verizon then). Although in 2012 my
car just quit on a seldom traveled road in the middle of winter. It
turned out to be the fuel pump inside of the gas tank. Luckily a
neighbor of mine came by like 30 seconds later and gave me a ride home.

I thought maybe I should get a cell phone again just in case next time I
am not so lucky. So I got one of those cheap cell phone watches (SVP) on
eBay for about 30 bucks and signed up with bare bones service with
Consumer Cellular for 10 bucks a month. They use AT&T cellphone towers.




No, I just was curious about the name of the application.

Anyway it looks like the problem is solved for now at least

On 03/09/2014 12:53 PM, Roderick Stewart wrote:

Better still you could put the phone next to a radio tuned to a
predominantly talk station such as Radio 4. The only way I would be
remotely interested in trying to waste a cold-caller's time would be
one that wasted none of mine. They're being paid for their time (not a
lot, but it's a job), whereas I've got better things to do.

Rod.




My main objective is simply peace and quiet and "nomorobo" is apparently
doing the job.