Max Temkin Fights Robocallers with Charles Dickens and Twilio

Max Temkin Fights Robocallers with Charles Dickens and Twilio

It’s unlikely Charles Dickens intended for his prose to be used to ward off robocallers and telemarketers. But it just works so well.

Using Twilio, Max Temkin, co-creator of Cards Against Humanity and Humans vs Zombies, created a Twilio-powered line dedicated to ward off telemarketers.

When they call, they’ll be greeted with the iconic lines from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Then they’ll sit through ten minutes of Dickens before leaving Max a message, if they last that long.

You can give it a try by calling (312) 756-0182

The obvious question is–why build this?

Max wanted to register his business on Google Maps so someone searches “Maxistentialism” his office address pops up.  The problem was he needed to provide a phone number, and did not want to use his personal cell number. So, he bought a Twilio number and a few Twimlets later prospecting telemarketers are whisked away to Dickens’ imagined France in the late 1700’s.

Max reports that the line is keeping his inbox spam free.“Twilio gives you these great statistics so I can see things like the average call duration (50 seconds) and the longest call (about ten minutes).”

To see Max’s latest updates from the world of gaming, tech, and metaphysical philosophy, read his blog.

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