Most people realize that spam is the receipt of unwanted email, but what many don't know is that spam can come in various other forms as well. It can come through newsgroups, search engines, blogs and guestbooks, cell phones, and even instant messenger services. All types of spam serve a purpose, and all can be extremely disruptive, annoying, and malicious.
The reason spammers use the tactics they use is because it works for them financially. The only costs they incur are the ones associated with maintaining their mailing lists and maintaining an internet connection. Spammers run rampant for the most part, as noted by how many spam emails a person can expect to receive on any given day. I know that personally, a day doesn't go by where I haven't received at least 20 unwanted messages in some form or another. Nobody enjoys spam (except maybe the spammers themselves), and many countries have passed laws and regulations trying to curb it.
When it comes to the spamming of discussion forums, a spammer will join (or post as a guest, if the forum supports it) and bump really old threads or otherwise post in an off-topic manner in order to either disrupt the flow of conversation taking place there, or to advertise something. Many will utilize the forums signature feature to put a link to whatever they're selling, which is then attached to every post they make.
Obviously, spam and SPAM are two different things. The lowercase spam refers to the junk email and junk messages that have been plaguing the internet pretty much since the beginning. SPAM in uppercase refers to the Hormel food product, which by the way, is the state food of Hawaii. Hormel has made it clear that they do not have an issue with their trademarked SPAM being used to describe the epidemic of unsolicited messages, but they have stated that they would prefer that people refer to it using lowercase letters, so as to not infringe on their trademark. There have, however, been situations where Hormel has asked companies to not use the word spam, as in the case of SpamArrest and spambuster.
Konocti Unified approves $27.2 million budget Lake County News E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . |
'Spam King' pleads guilty in Detroit United Press International In a plea deal, Ralsky agreed to help the government catch other e-mail spammers in return for a possible sentence reduction, the News reported. ... |
![]() Examiner.com | Cutting IT Costs During an Economic Downturn Examiner.com Be very aggressive on your Spam filter settings. And severely restrict user rights. The end user should just have enough rights to do their job. ... |
Red Condor's Spam Trip Wire Instantly Detects New "Scare Tactic ... SYS-CON Media (press release) ... hybrid architecture Vx Technology(TM), and fully managed appliances lead to a dramatic reduction in the cost of owning a premium spam filter. ... |
Green.view Can the spam Economist The consultants reckon that the reduction was the same as taking 2.2m cars off the road, albeit temporarily, until the spammers re-established themselves ... |
| |
| |
| |