From the linked article: "The goal of the email is not so much
to attract viable users as to repel the non-viable ones,
who greatly outnumber them."
My one useful insight in life is realizing that this is how street catcallers work as well. By crudely whistling and making loud vulgar remarks, they efficiently weed out all but the most self-disrespecting and compliant of potential partners, with little effort.
It's also the reason why a certain species of scam email almost always has typos. Absurdly incompetent spelling and grammar instantly weeds out the non-idiots, leaving only the easy marks.
My one useful insight in life is realizing that this is how street catcallers work as well. By crudely whistling and making loud vulgar remarks, they efficiently weed out all but the most self-disrespecting and compliant of potential partners, with little effort.
It's also the reason why a certain species of scam email almost always has typos. Absurdly incompetent spelling and grammar instantly weeds out the non-idiots, leaving only the easy marks.