Here’s some information on “PleaseSpam.Us” a new project of mine that critically examines both the mass proliferation of spam on the Internet and questions the adoption of collaborative filtering technology as used by sites like DIGG and all of the DIGG copycat sites as well as other types of sites that utilize “Reputation Systems“.

“PleaseSpam.Us” is a is a web (2.D’0h) based collaborative filtering project and voting system that encourages people to submit email addresses with accompanying reasons to persuade other users to vote on whether those addresses are worthy of attracting spammers. If an address receives enough “votes”, it is then placed on the front page of the website which is built with the intention of attracting “SpamBots“, that “might” eventually deliver messages to those implicated. The ultimate intention with the project is to explore the tensions of utilizing spam as a cultural and social tool to encourage the debate of how these social systems often work to polarize opinions and pigeonhole debate into specified channels. Instead of voting on general topics of interest which is the intention of these types of sites, PSU is focused on giving a collaborative voice to bringing the abuse of email as a mass broadcasting system into public attention and discussions. The project is also meant to expose the methods and ways “Spammers” are using to find people’s email addresses for spamming and implicate ways of stopping this from happening.

Also see the Project Page for more information.