Numerous theories exist as to the origin of the term.
The most popular relates to a skit
from Monty Python's Flying Circus. Spam, of course, has a lengthy
and illustrious history, and as is perhaps predictable, numerous sites
on the web are devoted to telling its story. (Linkrot has taken it's toll, but here's an update.) But what concerns us here
is the internet-related meaning of the term:
The second definition has become much more prevalent as the Internet
has opened up to non-techies, and to many Usenetters it is probably now
(1995) primary. > ...so much time to discuss Spam? I have no idea what that thread
Ah, spoken as a true "superior" ;) Professional point, I suppose;
however, in my professional "slightly" more than 40 hrs/wk I actually learned
a couple "spam" things I would have never learned otherwise. But you 'spam'
guys don't let this happen again... the WEB Police p.s. This weak attempt
at humor only took 72 seconds. Sorry boss. Won't happen again. All the spam complaints have eaten up far more bandwidth than the
original spam itself. Lets agree, no spamming and no griping about spamming. People join online mailing lists out of a common interest.
Just about every conceivable sort of group exists, and new ones spring
up all the time. When you join, you know pretty well what you're getting
into: a list devoted to the belief that the Beatles were the greatest rock
group ever won't carry postings about how wonderful a singer Frank Sinatra
was; a list devoted to programming in Visual Basic won't carry postings
about reincarnation and past lives. But who wants to be part of a totally
predictable group? A number of lists exist in Israel, each for a particular
reason and purpose. Il-board is for the discussion of computer related
issues and problems. Il-talk is for anything that anyone could conceivably
want to talk about. Presumably, list members know and understand the distinction.
But every two or three weeks someone comes along and posts
a volatile message to il-board. It may be political (ranging from defending
Baruch Goldstein to questioning the sanity of the government for opening
the tunnel under the Kotel) or social (an offer to trade photographs of
naked wives held reign a few weeks back), but one way or another, these
messages clearly are not in synch with the defined purpose of the list.
There's always someone who'll write that the discussion should be moved
to il-talk, but there are many others who jump on the bandwagon and express
their opinion or have some fun before the issue dies down. Invariably someone
points a shaking finger at these last posts, telling the posters that they
should know better, but everyone gets to kick the topic until it's finally
declared dead for lack of interest.
So if we all know better, why do we take part in this
oft repeated ritual instead of valiantly resisting the urge to express
ourselves? Simply put, it's boring talking to ourselves. We joined the
list to express our opinions and hear others' opinions on a particular
topic, but that's much too predictable and boring. We want and need the
occasional incendiary post that wakes us up and gets the fun started. People
join lists in order to communicate with others. Though before joining they
probably assume that communication means a civil exchange of opinions,
sooner or later they realize that communication means more than like-thinking
minds congratulating each other on how perceptive they are. They discover
that they need some outside input, something to spark some excitement.
Spam fits the bill wonderfully. Spam consumes both time and resources.
But e-mail would be so dull without it.
That's it for this edition. Reactions and suggestions
can be sent to:
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In Education - Main Page
From the Boidem -
an occasional column on computers and information technologies in everyday
life
January 25, 1997*:
In the past I've already admitted
to loving e-mail, but in these times that's not a particularly daring
piece of self-exposure. Certainly not the sort of disclosure that makes
people point at you and whisper about you behind your back when you're
walking down the street (or sitting in the computer room of the university).
The truth is that just about everybody probably loves e-mail, and secretly
wishes that they'd get more. The problem is that there are different sorts
of more - which brings us to the topic of this month's column, the scourge
of the internet, electronic junk mail that everybody loves to hate, spam.
spam vt. <P> [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).
The two definitions, though different, actually have quite
a bit in common. Though we tend to think of our e-mail as an unlimited
resource, our service providers can, and sometimes do, limit us when our
mail volume exceeds a certain level, and often a spam of the second definition
type causes an explosion in postings which a service provider will identify
as "excessively large input data" and shut us down. That's the problem
raised by a member of one list I subscribe to which was the "victim" of
a rather well-intentioned mass-mailing which members identified anyway
as a spam:
The problem is your e-mail is a resource which has limitations.
It has a finite amount of space to hold and store digital information and
you have a limited amount of time during your work day to deal with incoming
messages. If the practice of surreptitiously acquiring the e-mail addresses
of special interest group list members is tolerated, then conceivably,
you may be faced with the problem of your electronic mailbox being innundated
with announcements and solicitations of all kinds topics and products.
For people who are members of several lists, this is a freightening possibility.
For others, it is just extremely annoying.
In the particular case in question the spamming was an unsolicited
advertisement, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. As another list
member notes:
The trouble is it _is_ happening every day (admittedly this was
the first spam originating from the deos lists). I get at least 2 spam
messages every day for things as varied as get-rich-quick schemes, ways
to remortgage my house, as well as a message offering to show me how to
spam thousands of people (for a mere US$25 !). Of course, pity I live in
Australia because, ironically in this global networked age, nearly all
these wonderful, never to be missed offers are aimed at US citizens!!!
But both on highly active lists (those with a large volume
of postings) and on relatively dormant ones, spamming tends to wake things
up. People simply seem unable to withstand the urge to join the fun. And
often it really is fun. Readers take the opportunity to joke around. From
the same list:
Subject: cease spam
BTW, though it's clear that the poster of this message is being
(or at least trying to be) humorous, s/he seems not to take into account the possibility
that the person s/he is responding to was making a similar attempt. But just when
things are really heating up and becoming interesting someone comes along and
reminds us that our e-mail is an expensive commodity:
> ...Don't these people have a [professional] life? I wonder if
their
> superiors know that are spending so much work time discussing
canned
> meat products!? ... Director Distance Education & Special
Projects
Subject: Complaints about spam use bandwidth, too.
That's probably true, but it destroys all the fun, and there's
little chance that people are going to adhere to that suggestion. And the
reason is rather obvious - because we love spam.
(An
aside is called for here. One of the most laughable, yet ultimately also
bandwidth consuming, spams is the "Make Money Fast" post which has gone
through innumerable carnations [discussed briefly in The
Joys of E-mail]. A couple of industrious students thought of an ingenious,
albeit comic, method of combatting these exasperating posts. They created
a newsgroup: alt.make.money.fast,
and suggested that everyone with a get rich quick scheme post their idea
to that list. A web
page about the newsgroup, as well as a web
based FAQ on the list are a pleasure to read. Though it didn't shut
down the traffic on other lists, surprisingly [or perhaps not so surprisingly
considering who actually tries these schemes] people actually did post
to that list, and they're probably still offering each other offers that
can't be refused.)