Re: Rubywand's new award! Plus, Answers

[jeffr@bnr.ca (Jeffrey Robertson)]

In article <34fff812.146551331@roch-news>,
Will Smith <wsmith@NOSPAM.ctron.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 05 Mar 1998 13:14:30 -0500, sheldon@atlcom.net (Sheldon Simms)
>wrote:
>
>|>Sorry. Spam != Flame.
>
>i'm inclined to agree with LJSILICON on this one.  SPAM is defined as
>wasted bandwidth, right?  

No, spam is defined as a message broadcast aimlessly to multiple
recipients.  You can have newsgroup spam, where the same message
(eg, MAKE.MONEY.FAST) is posted to many newsgroups, despite the
fact the message is not appropriate to the group.  Email spam is
when a "form letter" is emailed to many people.  Phone spam is
when a telephone solicitor calls you up to try and sell you anything.

A flame is simply a reply (or occasionally, an opening salvo) which
is deliberately imflamatory and agressive.  Typically, it attacks
the character of the individual, not the topic under "debate".

While everyone is free to use and define terms however he sees fit,
in the interest of meaningful communication, it is wise not to
confuse common terminology.  Thus, spam != flames.

-- 
-------------------------------------+-----------------+-------------------
Jeffrey Robertson                    | jeffr@nortel.ca |   N  O  R  T  E  L
Software Engineer                    +-----------------+   Northern Telecom
"I speak for myself, not Nortel" - Me                    Broadband Networks