Spam Messages Related to Loans & Borrowing Money Online

The following bit of irrelevance appeared on the stan-users mailing list:

On Jun 11, 2015, at 11:29 AM, Joanna Caldwell <[email protected]> wrote:

Webinar: Tips & Tricks to Improve Your Logistic Regression
. . .
Registration Link: . . .

Abstract: Logistic regression is a commonly used tool to analyze binary classification problems. However, logistic regression still faces the limitations of detecting nonlinearities and interactions in data. In this webinar, you will learn more advanced and intuitive machine learning techniques that improve on standard logistic regression in accuracy and other aspects. As an APPLIED example, we will demonstrate using a banking dataset where we will predict future financial stress of a loan applicant in order to determine whether they should be granted a loan by Sambla given their creditworthiness, as scored by the Sambla Social Algorithm (SSA). Although the focus is related to finance and loans, the concepts are relevant for anyone who actively uses logistic regression and wishes to improve accuracy and predictor understanding. . . .

I wrote onto the list:

Now we’re getting spam on the Stan list?? This is really weird! Unless they’re actually using Stan, but I doubt it. “More advanced and intuitive techniques,” indeed!

And Bob replied:

The spam came from an account with their receptionist’s name on it. We have been getting spam all along, which is why we have a registration step. Daniel banned this user, but dedicated spammers are hard to keep out, especially if they go the manual labor route.

Dedicated spammers, huh? I guess it’s a sort of backhanded compliment to Stan, that we’re considered important enough for some sleazoids to sic their secretary on us. Not enough phone calls to answer today, so spend the afternoon posting unwanted ads on listservs. Maybe they’re using some sort of advanced Bayesian filter to decide whose time to waste here.

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