Coming from a forced registration veteran cracker such as myself, the latest trend among us vets is this, http and perl.
That's right, http and perl. This is the vet's way of spamming.
Learning http means more headaches than results. But on the other hand the price is a tad higher. This is the key.
And then, it's delicious. This is unbeatable.
However, if you learn this then there is danger that you'll be marked by the party van from next time on; it's a double-edged sword.
I can't recommend it to amateurs.
What this all really means, though, is that you,
>>1, should just stick with asyncronous transfer mode.