I think the solution here would be to write a hand-written letter.

Sure, someone can make AI write a letter with some kind of contraption holding a pen (I think StuffMadeHere did something adjacent to this). But it would likely be more obvious, plus it requires physical actions and a stamp. All things that low-effort AI spammers aren’t going to bother with.

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cricalix 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Physical letters do not obviate scams, nor is the cost that prohibitive. I remember actual 419 scams on blue airmail all-in-one letters back in the 80s. And that was international post too.

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AlecSchueler 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Think of it like changing your SSH port. It does nothing to prevent scams per se but you'll have to deal with only 0.00001% of them.

	▲	skeeter2020 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		If you build an analogy based on what I get in my mailbox it's more like publishing your email on the internet.

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riffraff 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They don't remove it but they do reduce it.

I have an inbox, and I do not receive a lot of scam post. In fact, I don't think I received any since I lived at this address (~10 years ). We do get a few promotional leaflets every other week.

OTOH, I get hundred of spam emails every day.

The former is something which I can handle manually easily, the other is not.

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tristramb 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It doesn't have to prevent the scam completely, it just has to make harder for them to scam you than it would be to move on to scam someone else.

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Freak_NL 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If you are targetting a list of well-known authors I guess outsourcing the writing of a couple of hundred handwritten letters shouldn't be too hard. I'm sure they they can find a school class in Nigeria or Kenya who would gladly do it for a few dollars — or a struggling teacher willing to get creative with the homework assignments.

	▲	onetokeoverthe 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[dead]

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cube00 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

One of my college lecturers only had a physical address on their webpage.

Contact me: letter > envelope > stamp > post box

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tristramb 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think it is a good general principle that, for any process that is likely to be a tempting target for scammers, you should require a non-electronic step to initiate that process. Requiring a physical letter of application for a job, for example.

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jjkaczor 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Uh - there are entire political lobbyist organizations that use something similar to an "autopen" to make mass letters personalized and appear to be handwritten...

Heck - I have seen some in the mail from the "sell your house for cash" companies - typically behind the friendly, "homespun" personable facade, it is a REIT (real-estate investment trust) - or something similar...

(Myself, I can tell that these are mass-generated - but I am (at least also at this point in life - who knows when I get much older) easily able to tell a scam email, phone call or txt-type message - I can typically spot the signs - but those signs are typically there to "weed-out" the people that won't fall for the scam anyways...) - but my non-cynical, non-technical, non-paranoid friends and family need assistance spotting these...)

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miki123211 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Or something like European E-Deliveries.

They're "physical letters but digital," tied to a human identity and with proper proof of receipt.