Spam assessment

You expect people to believe you're a museum curator when you don't know how to spell "museum"?

I'm talking to my e-mail spam folder where today there appeared a plea for help written by a fellow whose generic Bob Smith kind of name is attached incongruously to prose that looks like what a very bad translation program spits out. Whoever hides in the shadows behind this generic Bob Smith moniker, he or she could use a writing class.

That ought to be an assignment in my Creative Nonfiction class: write a spam message so convincing that readers just can't resist sending you money. I mention this idea in class and one of my students suggests that we set up PayPal accounts and see whose spam appeal earns the most cash. Finally, a flawless method of  Outcomes Assessment!