Spamming

[allen]

This is not my experience at all Bob.  I just went back and looked up the
FAQs for the net-abuse newsgroups.  Actually, spamming has nothing to do with
content, by definition.  It has to do with multiple cross-posting to 
newsgroups, regardless of content.  It seems to mostly be associated with 
advertising and that is not how it is defined.  For more info check out the
FAQs for news.announce.net-abuse, the web site is the easiest way to do it.
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/net-abuse-faq/part1/faq.htm
because you can link to the various parts of it without haveing to wade 
through the whole thing.  And while it certainly no hard and fast rule
the # of crossposting to newsgroups that many use as an indice of spamming
is 20.   
Complaints about the content of a message are a different matter altogether.
And one I agree is best dealt with by responding to the sender and/or
his/her postmaster.  One generally accepted bad practice seems to be the
posting of commercial posts in most Usenet groups, often this is compounded
by spamming (posting to dozens of groups at the same time, regardless of
charter) and they are two separate offenses which often get accounts canceled
on commercial providers.  I think this is a policy issue that SCN needs to
address.  I don't think it is OK to say it is OK for our users to do anything
they want in the usenet groups.  Perhaps some of our policy needs to be
rewritten.  What worked for a user base of 1,000 users and no net access
other than e-mail may not be appropriate for a user base rapidly approaching
ten times that and with usenet and web access.  The net works without 
censorship (it seems to me, tho I am relatively new to it) because it is
self regulating, part of that self regulation it seems to me comes from
internet providers being responsible to some degree for the actions of
their users and being willing to place restrictions on the kind of activities
that are OK for users.   SCN already does this, I just think it may need
to be revised somewhat to reflect our greater presence on the net.

On Fri, 5 Jan 1996, A. R. 'Bob' Mascott wrote:

> 
> 				SPAMMING
> 
>   A complaint about 'spamming' on the Internet or anywhere else is 
> inappropriate, largely because spamming is really an undefined term. What 
> it means to one person is not the same as the next person.
> 
>   How many places does a message have to be sent to - to be classified as 
> 'spamming'?
> What ever your answer is - it is wrong. Messages are commonly posted in 
> many areas at the same time, with no complaints. And people in those 
> areas forward that same message on to many other areas. All done without 
> it being considered 'spamming'.
> 
>   When a person complains about 'spamming', they are not really 
> complaining about a message being posted. They are complaining about the 
> content of the message.
> 
>   For one reason or another the complainer does not like the message. 
> However, instead of doing  that which is considered appropriate - 
> Responding to the poster and complaining to him or her directly. The 
> reasons for doing so, seem to be varied. Lack of courage, inadequate 
> knowledge to respond appropriately, or from the wording of some of the 
> messages sent to SCN, ashamed of their lack of education. Whatever it is, 
> the result is the same. They try to rally intermediates to see their 
> position, even though they know very little of the subject they write 
> about. They just know that they didn't like that message.
> 
>   This is very much akin to wanting the post office to do something, 
> because your girlfriend wrote you a 'Dear John' message and sent copies 
> of it to many of your friends.
> 
>   Forums and Lists can be either UnModerated (as most are) or moderated 
> (postings are sorted before they are seen by the public). Never has just 
> someone saying 'Post only this kind of message' made it so. Never has 
> there been either a forum or a list in which some of the message 
> subjects, strayed from the correct subject, without anyone complaining.
> 
>   When one tries to write something like a rule or policy to prohibit 
> some actions of some of the public and do it without inhibiting the major 
> amount of actions of most of the people - Words seem so inadequate.
> 
>                     Bob Mascott - mascott at scn.org
> 
>