Where Did The Word Spam Come From?
We've all become familiar with the term spam. It's become so commonplace that even people who never use computers are familiar with the term spam. That single word has become part of our every day vocabulary that we use in personal conversations. But how does the word spam relate to email? There are two camps of thought on this matter. The classic version of the story stems from the classic Monty Python spam sketch where a couple enter a restaurant and are given a menu that has nothing but the tinned meat spam on it. In that sketch the word spam is repeated almost 200 times. The same word repeated over and over in a sketch led to people referring to hundreds of the same emails about the same topic being referred to as spam. The second explanation came from a guy called Jim who told me the following story: "Back in the BBS (Bulletin Board System) days with the NEW high-speed V32 2400-baud modems it would take a very long time to download a program or picture from your BBS. This was much like USENET is today you upload some thing and others can download it. One such uploader advertised his posts as pictures of nude women. After a half hour download and putting all the pieces together the picture turned out to be a picture of a can of SPAM. Where are my nude ladies and an hour of my time? People replied to the messages and wrote SPAM. This way we knew not to D/L that picture. After USENET got going the term stuck meaning something false - do not download (or believe) this. The jump to UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email) or UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) being called SPAM was a natural evolution of the term." Decide for yourself which origination theory best suits you. The principle is the same. The word spam is derived from the fact that the same useless information is sent to you over and over again under the pretence of it being useful. This article was provided courtesy of Spam-site.com which reviews and tests www.spam-site.com">spam blockers for the business and end user.
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BBC News MCafee, inc. experiment reveals the growing psychological nature ... Al-Bawaba, Jordan - Jul 2, 2008 McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) today released the results of its SPAM (Spammed Persistently All Month) Experiment, in which 50 people from around the world surfed ... Lessons From McAfee's SPAM Experiment InternetNews.com UK main target for Nigerian spam Financial Times McAfee reports on spam in the real world CNET News Times Online - BBC News all 129 news articles Publ.Date : Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:41:15 GMT
Spam fans can compete at fair The Olympian, WA - 8 hours ago The annual Spam recipe contest is on, this time for the greatest-tasting appetizers, all made with Spam products. On Aug. 29, the Western Washington Fair in ... Publ.Date : Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:00:28 GMT
Spam Fighters Drop Gauntlet This Day, Nigeria - Jul 2, 2008 New guidelines for how internet service providers should combat spam have been published, reports the BBC news. The advice, from the Messaging Anti-Abuse ... Publ.Date : Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:18:58 GMT
Security Watch 194.8.75.x on big blog spam run Security Watch, UK - 48 minutes ago By Brian Turner Various IP’s in the C class (/24) IP block 194.8.75.214 are running like the clappers with blog spam today. The blog spam is being posted in ... Publ.Date : Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:13:18 GMT
CXOToday.com McAfee Conducts ' SPAM ' Experiments CXOToday.com, India - 11 hours ago By CXOtoday Staff McAfee has released the results of its Spammed Persistently All Month ( SPAM ) experiment, in which 50 people from around the world surfed ... Publ.Date : Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:55:49 GMT
Spam e-mail claims to come from attorney general Waco Tribune Herald, TX - Jul 3, 2008 By Ken Sury | Thursday, July 3, 2008, 11:55 AM A brazen, new spam e-mail featuring Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s photograph and the Office of the ... E-mail scam uses Texas attorney general's name 12:06 PM CT Dallas Morning News AG's office warns of fraudulent e-mail LubbockOnline.com E-mail scam claims to be from Texas attorney general Houston Chronicle 1200 WOAI - Dallas Morning News all 20 news articles Publ.Date : Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:17:58 GMT
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