On Fri, 21 Jul 2000, Juliano Ravasi Ferraz wrote:
> >
> > > I don't consider this spam. It's a relevant issue to the software that
> > > they have control over.
> >
> > I didn't say junk mail, I said spam. Relevance is unimportant. Flooding
> > their inboxes with the same messages over and over *is* spam -- having an
> > entire mailing list send them messages about GPL'ing DikuMUD *is* spam.
>
> SPAM (formally) means "Stupid Person's AdvertiseMent". I think it's not
> this case.
Advertisments can be spam, but it is not the sole meaning of spam;
spam has quite a few meanings one of the meanings of spam is numerous
undesired messages or messages that are equal in content -- junk email
is one of the newer meanings of the word spam, not the formal meaning
-- it is a case of spam, but it's never been the definition of it :P.
see below
. . .
Spam n.
A trademark used for a canned meat product consisting primarily of
chopped pork pressed into a loaf.
Source: The American HeritageR Dictionary of the English Language,
Third Edition
[hey, that's where this spam word was first]
spam n.
Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent
indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or
newsgroups; junk e-mail.
tr.v. spammed, spamming, spams
1. To send unsolicited e-mail to.
2. To send (a message) indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists,
individuals, or newsgroups.
Source: The American HeritageR Dictionary of the English Language,
Third Edition
spam vt.,vi.,n. [from "Monty Python's Flying Circus"] 1. To crash a
program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large
input data. See also buffer overflow, overrun screw, smash the stack.
2. To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate
messages. You can spam a newsgroup with as little as one well- (or
ill-) planned message (e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?" on
soc.women). This is often done with cross-posting (e.g. any message
which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality
will almost inevitably spam both groups). This overlaps with troll
behavior; the latter more specific term has
become more common.
3. To send many identical or nearly-identical messages separately to a
large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is more specifically called `ECP',
Excessive Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone
on the Net. See also velveeta and jello.
4. To bombard a newsgroup with multiple copies of a message. This is more
specifically called `EMP', Excessive Multi-Posting.
5. To mass-mail unrequested identical or nearly-identical email messages,
particularly those containing advertising. Especially used when the mail
addresses have been culled from network traffic or databases without the
consent of the recipients. Synonyms include UCE, UBE.
6. Any large, annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC
who walks away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of text
might say "Oh no, spam".
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the Internet
has opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses 3 4 and 5 are
now primary. All three behaviors are considered abuse of the net, and
are almost universally grounds for termination of the originator's
email account or network connection. In these senses the term `spam'
has gone mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric
freight - there is apparently a widespread myth among lusers that
"spamming" is what happens when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving
fan.
Source: Jargon File 4.2.0
_________________________________________________________________
The jargon file doesn't lie.
-Mysid
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