Conversation
monsieuricon

K. Ryabitsev-Prime 🍁

Making life hard for cold callers trying to sell you snake oil:
90% Fair Game, f*ck 'em!
10% Come on, they probably already hate their life
4
1
3
monsieuricon

K. Ryabitsev-Prime 🍁

Reply to @monsieuricon
Edited 8 days ago
I don't mean like personally attacking them, but wasting their time and potentially making them feel stupid. Like, today someone called me trying to sell some junk that runs Windows apps in the cloud. I pretended not to speak English well, got faux-irate with them for not speaking French ("I'm in Quebec, 'stie, you have to speak French to me by law!" -- not really but it gets them every time). That sort of thing.
2
0
7
jarkko

Jarkko Sakkinen

Reply to @monsieuricon
@monsieuricon My phone is most of the time muted and the only calls that come through are from my daughter :-) For rest I call back when I have the time.
0
0
0
becomingwisest@hachyderm.io

Christopher Evans

Reply to @monsieuricon

@monsieuricon I answered what I felt was a spam call recently.
Me: “Hola?”
Them: “Do you speak English?”
Me: “un poquito(sp)”
…
*click*

0
0
0
errror@mastodon.social

Patrick Cernko

Reply to @monsieuricon

@monsieuricon I try to teergrub them, unless I detect a AI voice. That way at least that caller cannot make a fraud on someone else as long as I hold the line. Last time I had success with endless technical questions like "are the mails for your online trading service encrypted by PGP or S/MIME".

0
0
0
drscriptt@oldbytes.space

DrScriptt

Reply to @monsieuricon

@monsieuricon I dislike ad hominem attacks.

I would probably avoid making them feel dumb as a person, but maybe questionable for pedaling dumb products / for a dumb company.

0
0
0
toast@donotsta.re

(eval 'Toast)

Reply to @monsieuricon
@monsieuricon they’re starting to just be AI, which is the natural evolution
I had one of those pause after I said “I don’t own [prerequisite to what they’re trying to sell]” and then nonsensically reply “oh no, it seems you’re not eligible for the grant, I’ll stop calling you” (they did not stop calling)
which is to say: IME we’re running out of people to make this hard for so go for it
0
0
0
march38@mstdn.social

march38

Reply to @monsieuricon

@monsieuricon I pick up and immediately go on mute. I found this incredibly reliable test by chance: spammers always wait for you to speak first, whereas normal calls never do. Surprisingly, this test works with both robocalls and humans (spam probably never starts with a human anymore? dunno).

0
0
0
About social.kernel.org

Terms of service

  1. Please do not use this service in violation of the Linux Kernel Code of Conduct. Doing so will result in your account suspension with the referral of the matter to the CoC committee.

  2. "Repeating"/"boosting" someone else's status on this platform will be treated as endorsement and will fall under rule #1.

  3. You are encouraged to use this platform to promote your work on the Linux Kernel, but there is no restriction on permitted topics (with the exception of anything covered by #1 above).

  4. There is no requirement to post in English, but it should be considered the primary language of communication on this platform.

Privacy notice

The admins of this service have access to all posted statuses. They aren't looking, but if it's something they shouldn't know about, then you should not post it on this platform.

Please see the Linux Foundation Privacy Policy, which applies to this platform as well.

Getting your own account

If you would like an account on this instance, please check that the following applies to you:

  • You are listed in MAINTAINERS or CREDITS

  • OR: You have a kernel.org account or email address

  • OR: You have a long and established history of involvement with the Linux Kernel

If the above is true and you agree with the Terms of Service and Privacy Notice listed above, please use these instructions to request an account: