breidbart index

1 definition found

breidbart index - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  Breidbart Index
   /bri:d'bart ind@ks/
  
     A measurement of the severity of spam invented by long-time hacker
     Seth Breidbart, used for programming cancelbots. The Breidbart Index
     takes into account the fact that excessive multi-posting EMP is
     worse than excessive cross-posting ECP. The Breidbart Index is
     computed as follows: For each article in a spam, take the square-root
     of the number of newsgroups to which the article is posted. The
     Breidbart Index is the sum of the square roots of all of the posts in
     the spam. For example, one article posted to nine newsgroups and
  again
     to sixteen would have BI = sqrt(9) + sqrt(16) = 7. It is generally
     agreed that a spam is cancelable if the Breidbart Index exceeds 20.
  
     The Breidbart Index accumulates over a 45-day window. Ten articles
     yesterday and ten articles today and ten articles tomorrow add up to
  a
     30-article spam. Spam fighters will often reset the count if you can
     convince them that the spam was accidental and/or you have seen the
     error of your ways and won't repeat it. Breidbart Index can
  accumulate
     over multiple authors. For example, the "Make Money Fast" pyramid
     scheme exceeded a BI of 20 a long time ago, and is now considered
     "cancel on sight".