spam
5 definitions found
spam - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :
Spam
n 1: a canned meat made largely from pork
2: unwanted e-mail (usually of a commercial nature sent out in
bulk) [syn: spam, junk e-mail]
v 1: send unwanted or junk e-mail
spam - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :
spam
spamming
1. <messaging> (From Hormel's Spiced Ham, via the Monty Python
"Spam" song) To post irrelevant or inappropriate messages to
one or more Usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, or other
messaging system in deliberate or accidental violation of
netiquette.
It is possible to spam a newsgroup with one well- (or ill-)
planned message, e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?"
on soc.women. This can be done by cross-posting, e.g. any
message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and
alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both
groups. (Compare troll and flame bait).
Posting a message to a significant proportion of all
newsgroups is a sure way to spam Usenet and become an object
of almost universal hatred. Canter and Siegel spammed the net
with their Green card post.
If you see an article which you think is a deliberate spam, DO
NOT post a follow-up - doing so will only contribute to the
general annoyance. Send a polite message to the poster by
private e-mail and CC it to "postmaster" at the same address.
Bear in mind that the posting's origin might have been forged
or the apparent sender's account might have been used by
someone else without his permission.
The word was coined as the winning entry in a 1937 competition
to choose a name for Hormel Foods Corporation's "spiced meat"
(now officially known as "SPAM luncheon meat"). Correspondant
Bob White claims the modern use of the term predates Monty
Python by at least ten years. He cites an editor for the
Dallas Times Herald describing Public Relations as "throwing a
can of spam into an electric fan just to see if any of it
would stick to the unwary passersby."
Usenet newsgroup: news:news.admin.net-abuse.
See also netiquette.
2. (A narrowing of sense 1, above) To indiscriminately send
large amounts of unsolicited e-mail meant to promote a
product or service. Spam in this sense is sort of like the
electronic equivalent of junk mail sent to "Occupant".
In the 1990s, with the rise in commercial awareness of the
net, there are actually scumbags who offer spamming as a
"service" to companies wishing to advertise on the net. They
do this by mailing to collections of e-mail addresses,
Usenet news, or mailing lists. Such practises have caused
outrage and aggressive reaction by many net users against the
individuals concerned.
3. (Apparently a generalisation of sense 2, above) To abuse
any network service or tool by for promotional purposes.
"AltaVista is an index, not a promotional tool. Attempts to
fill it with promotional material lower the value of the index
for everyone. [...] We will disallow URL submissions from
those who spam the index. In extreme cases, we will exclude
all their pages from the index." -- Altavista.
4. <jargon, programming> To crash a program by overrunning a
fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data.
See also buffer overflow, overrun screw, smash the stack.
5. <chat, games> (A narrowing of sense 1, above) To flood any
chat forum or Internet game with purposefully annoying
text or macros. Compare Scrolling.
(2003-09-21)
spam - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :
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 cross-posted 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. As a noun, `spam' refers to the messages so sent.
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. Hormel, the makers of Spam, have published a surprisingly
enlightened position statement on the Internet usage.
spam - V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2006) :
SPAM
Send Phenomenal Amounts of Mail (Usenet, EMP, slang)
SPAM
Spiced Pork and hAM (Usenet, EMP)
|
