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Are Email Spam Filters Racist...


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... or is YT Just Better at Getting Around It?

 

I've maintained a mailing list about as long as I've run this website, pushing 25 years.  To this day, my mailing list remains one of the best ways of reaching my audience, as it not subject to the whims of algorithms created by white boys in silicon valley -- or so I thought.

 

I'm hearing a lot of complaints from other Brothers and Sisters who tell me that their emails are increasingly ending up in spam folders.  Just yesterday an important email from a organization I've been working with for 15 years was diverted to my spam folder.  Meanwhile, obvious spam from white business, I've never communicated with, hits my inbox seemingly unfettered.

 

This morning a friend inquired abut some information that happened to be included in the newsletter that I send  just yesterday.  I chided her for not subscribing to my newsletter and sent her a link to my email. She replied by saying that she does subscribe and that she ultimately found my newsletter in her spam folder!  

 

OK, lets say that all the pin heads on the west coast want to do is clean up people inboxes by reducing spam which is great, but it seems Black people emails are being treating with the heavy hand.  This is no different than "driving while Black." It is the same mentality that has lead to Black people being disproportionately jailed while white people get a warning for similar offenses.

 

Black people are largely absent, I'm sure, during the conversations about how spam filters work.  While white boys discuss these strategies with each other over beer, so they know what to do to get around these spam filters.  They even strike deals with each other to guarantee that their email get through.

 

When was the last time a brand new Black-owned website launched?  New sites have to deal with Google's search algorithm, they are to deal with social media algorithms, and now even our email messages are subjects to gate keepers.  All of these systems are demonstrably biased against us. 

 

In order to help ensure that you get my newsletter you will have to whitelist troy@aalbc.com -- even the description of the remedy, "whitelist," is racist.

 

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It's like any other tool and most establishments/systems....IT may not be racist but the Caucasians who OPERATE it probably are.

I remember saying to Del a while back.....
He said that often said statement that "the numbers don't lie"; and I said the NUMBERS may not lie but those CONTROLING the numbers often do!

Money is money
Weapons are weapons
Badges are badges
Computers are computers

These are all TOOLS that can be used for good or bad.
Tools are what they are and have no mind of their own.
It's those who USE the tools who decide to use them for good or evil.

But unlike TOOLS....things like Operating Systems and Laws and Television Shows are manually designed and can be PROGRAMMED by the racists to BE racist!

Perhaps these spam filters were DESIGNED with certain words most often used by Black mailers that will  trigger a negative response, but often times it's the person operating the system itself that is behind the nefarious actions. 
 

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Nefarious or not the outcomes are indistinguishable.
 

one would think we could control our own email lists, but if you don’t control the delivery systems and software you don’t control email.

 

 Even my website is vulnerable to these greedy little children running the largest and most powerful corporations. AALBC is at the mercy of these people.

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Troy


Nefarious or not the outcomes are indistinguishable.

 

And if the outcomes are constantly the same, one can't help but to consider intentional malice.

 

If you ask me and other people to go and pick up lunch for you and they always bring your lunch back to you but half of the time I go your lunch ends up being "accidentally" dropped on the ground and has to be discarded....you should naturally consider maliciousness.

 

 

 

Even my website is vulnerable to these greedy little children running the largest and most powerful corporations. AALBC is at the mercy of these people.

 

AfroAmericans have been in the United States long enough to learn how to and establish our own operating systems and networks.  All of these major communications corporations are staffed with tens of thousands of talented Black people so it's not for lack of ability.
Our people collectively have gotten too comfortable with the seemingly "mild" racism of corporate America and figure they can put up with it enough to get a degree and earn a paycheck.

 

If often takes a business oriented person with ambition and a dominant attitude to get so fed up with the conditions of corporate America that a guaranteed paycheck is not enough for them to continue to have their dignity insulted on a daily basis by passive-aggressive racism.

 

 

 

 


Racism in the Workplace: Hostile Workplace v. Employee Rights

"Wait wait wait......
He called me a nigger, pulled out a noose, and tossed it on the conference table.
At what point is that acceptable to do to any co-worker, let alone an Executive?"

"We're so so sorry.....we thought he was just joking with you.
You know  Dave can be a jokester at times."

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We’ve only demonstrated a desire to build her own shit when we had no choice in the matter. Even when we were given no choice that was up to white folks to decide.

 

I’ve been listening in on a few conversations on Clubhouse. All of the conversations, and this could be biased by my current set of friends, are all focused on how important Clubhouse can be for black people for organizing and the like. I’ll already know I’m not gonna be on the platform very long.

 

What was surprising however was a lot of mentions of “black LinkedIn.” Apparently it is the new “black Twitter.” Again the focus is all wrong in my opinion. We continually focus on utilizing white folks platforms, rather than creating or even supporting the existing platforms that we have.

 

White boys benefit a great deal from black support on their platforms. Then we complain about how they shadow ban us, delete our posts, or fail to show them to others. Minister Farrakhan was banned from a couple of platforms I don’t know if he was ever reinstated. Did anyone care I don’t know...

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Troy

 

 

I’ve been listening in on a few conversations on Clubhouse. All of the conversations, and this could be biased by my current set of friends, are all focused on how important Clubhouse can be for black people for organizing and the like.

 

Well I haven't signed into Clubhouse and have absolutely no intention to.  From those I've heard from who have, they are telling me the same thing YOU just said....that it's a good place for Black people to promote, chill, and "organize"
My question is what kind of IDIOT would get on a Caucasian owned, operated, and monitored platform and think they can "organize" or even discuss anything in secret?
That shows you the intellectual level of so many of our people today.

 

Clubhouse has been busted several times already for having so-called "Black" discussion rooms that were actually populated by majority Caucasian users and even the moderators of some of these rooms were found out to have been Caucasian.


Further....
They gave these so-called Black discussion rooms names like  "How to get back at Whitey".....((shakes head)).   What type of FOOL believes the average AfroAmerican would give a chat room that title?
White men just kicked back with their feet on the desk smoking a cigarette and grinning away while listening to these silly ass negroes running their mouths to people they can't even see on the other side.

 

It's silly as hell but too sad to even "lol" about.

 

 

 


What was surprising however was a lot of mentions of “black LinkedIn.” Apparently it is the new “black Twitter.”

 

((shakes head))

 

Calling it "Black" as if THEY own it or have any control.

 

 

 

 

Again the focus is all wrong in my opinion. We continually focus on utilizing white folks platforms, rather than creating or even supporting the existing platforms that we have.

 

Absolutely

 

 

VIDEO: This is how a nuclear war would play out, according to a Princeton  University simulation - New York Daily News

 

 

 

We've had hundred of Black own websites in the past and still have dozens today including AALBC that they can easily come together and discuss on, but they refuse to do it.


I remember when half of those Negroes literally SOLD OUT to facebook!
They had their own websites and controled their own content but figured it was cheaper and easier to maintain if they go rid of their own private websites and instead joined facebook and did their advertising on IT instead of having their own platforms.

 

So now when I wanted to order something from the Soulfood joint down the street I had to get a facebook account just to log in and view their menu when just a few months ago they had a website with their menu and prices on it.
Then they did the same thing with Twitter and Instagram...hoping from one bed to the next.

 

I've mentioned this dozens of times before and plan on continuing to say it but AALBC is an open discussion forum with hands-off moderation..NOTHING is stopping these Negroes from coming on here to promote their books and other publication or just coming on the board and starting topics of discussion.

They'd rather go where Caucasians TELL them or TRICK them into going and then turn around and cry about how they're treated or how they aren't allowed to say this or that.

 

 

 

Black man crying very funny - YouTube

 

"Ahhh haaaahhh
Twitter suspended my account for 14 day-hay-haaaaayz!!!"

 

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@Pioneer1  First you definitely put you money (and energy) where your mouth is.  As a request participant and financial supporter of this site. YOU are one of the reason I still run this forum. Thank You!

 

Facebook has a bunch of advantages;

  • It is, by design, addictive.  People can spend hours scrolling through their feed, as a result they have amassed a large audience.
  • It is easier, faster, cheaper to establish a Facebook page creating and maintaining a website, as as result many have migrated away from websites to Facebook.  OFTEN I have to go to a author/business/event/bookstore Facebook page because I can obtain what I'm looking for more easily than I can from their own website.
  • White folks run Facebook.  If Facebook was Black-owned, or God forbid targeted Black people, it would have died a long time ago. 
  • Facebook has access to investors and the capital markets.

I could go on but if AALBC discussion forums had 100 Pioneers we would not be having this conversation.  Nor would you have to worry about your privacy, psychometric manipulation, or any of the crap Facebook get away with.

 

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Troy


While all that you say about facebook may indeed be true, in my opinion:

 

1.  Simply posting on message boards is MUCH easier and safer, especially in the older days when you didn't have to register your personal information like email, ect..
All you have to do is come on and say what you like and the worst that can happen is you get blocked or banned.  Unlike these social media apps that suck up your personal information and pass it around the web and leave you open to identity theft.


2. Having your own website offers much more independence and control over it's content.
If you want to be anti-vax-seen, if you have your own website you can do that easily without having your account suspended or taken down like facebook or twitter or even Clubhouse.


But your right, if facebook was ran by Black folks it probably would have collapsed years ago.  Not from lack of participation but probably from infighting over power as well as instigation from outside sources.


But we CAN own and operate our own platforms successfully!
We have to do it OUR way, not the Caucasian way that is often taught in corporate America or in most public universities.

It starts with having a fair-minded single established authority over each platform who makes the rules.  What the West calls a "dictatorship".  That type of government seems to work MUCH better for people of color than so-called "Democracy" where everyone is fighting and squabbling with eachother for pieces of power.

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3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

Simply posting on message boards is MUCH easier and safer, especially in the older days when you didn't have to register your personal information like email

 

Yes all of what you wrote is true, but do not under estimate the thing that makes social media so compelling -- it is like mental crack.  The dopamine hits that are designed to keep us attached to the platforms does not allow anyone to consider these issues -- even ones that serve our best interests. 

 

Can you reason with a crack head, or even a cigarette smoker?  Cigarette smokers are a good analogy: most understand that smoking cigarettes is deadly, but for some reason these ills are not really applicable to them.  They feel they are somehow different.  People who are clearly addicted to and manipulated by social media simply don't believe that they are.  Did you think these people will leave Facebook and chat on a Black owned planform to benefit Black people?

 

Our hand held devices put this addiction on steroids!  The data made available by our behavior, off the social media platforms, only made manipulating us even easier.  Is it any wonder why the social media platforms being pushed are all cell phone based or optimized for cell phone use? 

 

Honestly, it is a miracle AALBC gets any traffic.  Part of the reason is that Google has been showing me mercy and that the are folks who actively support the site.  It would just be nice if their were more.  

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Troy

It's funny you mentioned dopamine.


Years back when I was younger I took a brief course in drug addiction to understand how people got hooked.
I was also curious as to why I WASN'T addicted to anything despite having tried drugs, cigarette, and still drink alcohol socially from time to time.  
I now realize and Thank The SUPREME BEING for keeping that affliction away from me, especially in my youthful ignorance.

I also found out that dopamine was a reward chemical that the brain gives itself for overcoming obstacles and achieving success.  


It appears that drugs mimic dopamine in the brain and gives you that feeling without you having EARNED it!

 

Similarly, social media seems to be giving people a rush and feeling of greatness and importance that they aren't earning in real life.  They seem to be living amazing successful lives "vicariously" (for lack of a better term) through social media.

Every other brother is on youtube or twitter bragging about how many cars he has, how great he is in bed, and how much money he's making in the stock market...yet homelessness among Black men are at an all time high right now.

 

...something isn't adding up.

I guess what I'm saying is the addiction of social media comes from your being able to LIE about your success and achievements in a way you wouldn't be able to do in real life where everyone would be able to plainly see what you have and what you've accomplished.
 

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On 3/26/2021 at 8:32 PM, Pioneer1 said:

Similarly, social media seems to be giving people a rush and feeling of greatness and importance that they aren't earning in real life.

 

Perhaps, but the analogy I like is the one that keeps people sitting a slot machine for hours, not just wasting valuable time, but money.

 

Yes, some people are more easily addicted than others some can not stop smoking until it kills them and other won't stop puling the slot machines arm until they have not more money.

 

A very depressing site are the casino you see scattered across the country. They are dark, windows spaces, without clocks were clearly impoverished people are sitting there smoking and pressing the little button on electronic slot machines.  These are predatory businesses which exploit people, because they are very lucrative.  Social media is no different.

 

Neither will be stopped, American culture is founded in the exploitation of people -- it is how we roll.

 

Today, I found my own newsletter in my Junk Folder!!! 

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I don't think I give The SUPREME BEING enough Credit for having Protected me and continuing to Protect me against Addiction, because I've certainly tried different things that have caused addictions in most people who have tried them.

I've tried drinking and gambling and continue to engage in both from time to time, yet haven't developed anything close to an addiction.

I've tried drugs several times in my youth but walked away from them with no desire and nothing even close to an addiction to them either.
I did smoke briefly, then stopped on a dime over 20 years ago...again, absolutely NO desire for them.

I consider this Divine Grace instead of only my own will power.
I'm not the smartest man in the world and I don't have the most powerful intellect so if it was ONLY my own mind and will protecting me, there's no telling where I'd be now.

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I'm the same way.  I simply don't have an addictive personality.  As I asked in another thread why do you thing the supreme being saved us from the ills of addiction and ignored the plights of so many others -- allowing their lives to be destroyed?

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Troy

 

Lol...and I'll answer the same way I did in the other thread.

I'm not sure.

 

However I believe my consistent Belief and fluctuating but persistent Faith in The SUPREME BEING plays a huge role.


Also....

Believe it or not, I have a very "logical" mind that seems to over-ride many of the social instincts that influence most people.

Most people start off drinking, smoking, gambling, even engaging in criminal behavior simply because their "friends" were engaging in it and they wanted to be part of the group.  By the time they hit early adulthood...they were addicted to it regardless of their "friends".

 

If something isn't enjoyable and doesn't make sense to me, I unless there's some sort of non-social benefit to it...I usually won't engage in it.

For example, I used to go to strip clubs with my friends and watch the dancers and pay for lap dances but I wouldn't buy drinks or smoke.  
Now I DID drink from time to time in private settings with friends of mine, but I didn't like drinking in public....and usually didn't do so.


My friends would tell me I should drink SOMETHING so I wouldn't look like an under-cover cop, lol.  I didn't care what people thought...I was there for the lap dances and the titties shaking....lol.  So they just stopped telling me.

 

I smoked cigarettes as long as I enjoyed them, but when I started reading about the chemical ingredients in them and how most of them weren't made with pure tobacco and how menthol cigarettes were directed at Black folks....that was enough to make me quit.

My logic often prevents me from doing things just to gain social acceptance UNLESS there is a particular benefit to that social acceptance (like money, sex, favor, ect..).

 

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