Subject:
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What is spam?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Sat, 19 Feb 2000 17:56:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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582 times
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[I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here...]
In lugnet.market.theory, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> [...]
> I agree with your feelings in general, but I just want to make it clear that
> if I compose a note to you by hand offering to purchase your item, no matter
> what conditions I may attach, that's not spam. By definition. It may be
> annoying, rude, etc. but it is NOT SPAM.
I wonder, though -- couldn't such a message theoretically _contain_ "spam"
even if the message as a whole isn't considered "spam"?
For example, when I see something at the bottom of an email message which
advertises "get your free @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com address..." (that sort
of thing), then that's a wicked horrible annoying unsolicited advertisement
to me (even if it isn't dictionary spam) and I have to give it a name -- so
for lack of a better word, I call it "spam" -- especially if it was added to
the message automatically (not part of the sender's .sig file) by the
software which generated the message.
> Do you have reason to believe that you were bulk mailed? THAT is the
> definition of SPAM.
Hmm, when you say "THAT is the definition of SPAM," are you referring to
"bulk mailed"? I don't think simply bulk mailing is spamming. For example,
mailing lists and email distro lists do bulk mailing every day, but they're
not necessarily spamming.
BTW, there's a nifty SMTP header that can be set ('Precedence: bulk') to
lower the suggested propagation priority. IIRC, 'bulk' is at the bottom,
and 'list' is above bulk, with other things above 'list'.
> You could look it up.
Hmm, I just looked up "spam" in the Jargon File, and while it mostly mentions
various types of large-quantity spamming, I think the term has also recently
taken on the additional meaning of "unsolicitied electronic advertisement"
(except for banner ads, of course). That's how I've seen it increasingly
used, anyway...not that it's necessarily a dictionary-correct usage.
--Todd
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: What is spam?
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| I'm going to stick by the definition as it's commonly accepted. Spam is unsolicited bulk email. Bulk in that it wasn't written by a human and isn't personal to you. Unsolicited in that you didn't ask for it. A mailing list or distro list that you're (...) (24 years ago, 19-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.theory)
| | | Re: What is spam?
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| (...) I would say an advertisement appended to every message sent by a list or whatever would be SPAM. To some extent, the little "here's our web page, and this is how you unsubscribe" which is appended to every message on the lists that I manage is (...) (24 years ago, 19-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.theory)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Solicitation, but not spam (was Re: Spam by proxy ?
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| (...) I read it, thanks. Don't assume I didn't, thanks. Didn't say you called it illegal, merely pointed out that it isn't illegal, for the benefit of those that might think that it is. (...) I agree with your feelings in general, but I just want to (...) (24 years ago, 19-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.theory)
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