What is Spam?
Created | Updated Sep 19, 2002
Personal feelings follow...
To determine whether a set of posts are spam:
A) Is more than half the content identical? Writing "Dear XXX" at the top of each post doesn't stop them from being spam. 'personalising to a small degree' doesn't stop then being spam. On the plus side, if you do personalise each message, it's likely to slow you down and reduce the total number of messages.
B) Do any of the readers of those posts find it annoying? Note *any* - if you post the same message to a thousand people, and just ten of them find it irritating, then it's spam. Think carefully before you send about whether the recipient is likely to find it annoying: if you don't know enough about them to tell, DON'T SEND.
C) Will some readers be exposed to the same message multiple times? Posting to the message space of newbies is less spam-like than posting the same message to every one of Mina's journals and every one of her home space threads. In the latter case, some people are going to read the same message three times, and it'll be very annoying by the third time. (see B)
D) Are the posts on-topic? If you write something about killer whales, and you post a link to it on an entry about sperm whales, and another link on an entry about whales in general, and so on, then it's less likely to be spam. If you post the same message to lots of entries about Wales (sic), then it's more likely to be spam. This is because people who are uninterested will read it, and they are more likely to be annoyed by it (see B)
E) How long are the posts? It is better to post a number of short posts that link to your entry about how Camilla is the daughter of Satan, rather than to post the same number of posts each with several pages of the links between her and demonic presences in North Wales. If people have a choice about whether to read something they are less likely to be annoyed by it (see B)
F) Does it pretend not to be a bulk posting? Posts that say "I have chosen YOU, Researcher 123456, out of all researchers on h2g2, to be my partner in life, love, and loofahs" are going to be vastly more annoying than a post that starts off "sorry if you see this as spam, but have you seen [...] ?". In other words, don't add deception to your list of crimes.
G) Does it claim to be important or high urgency? Does it have "IMPORTANT" in the title? Bulk postings are *never* important, and *never* urgent. Even if you think some topic is life-or-death important for everyone on h2g2, trust me, it isn't. Get a sense of proportion and/or some humility.
H) How many readers will there be? How many people are subscribed to this thread or entry? Posting the same thing to the Announcements page, ask h2g2, Peer Review, and the thingites, is always going to be spam - even though it's just four posts and you might make them all slightly different.
To determine whether a set of posts are spam:
A) Is more than half the content identical? Writing "Dear XXX" at the top of each post doesn't stop them from being spam. 'personalising to a small degree' doesn't stop then being spam. On the plus side, if you do personalise each message, it's likely to slow you down and reduce the total number of messages.
B) Do any of the readers of those posts find it annoying? Note *any* - if you post the same message to a thousand people, and just ten of them find it irritating, then it's spam. Think carefully before you send about whether the recipient is likely to find it annoying: if you don't know enough about them to tell, DON'T SEND.
C) Will some readers be exposed to the same message multiple times? Posting to the message space of newbies is less spam-like than posting the same message to every one of Mina's journals and every one of her home space threads. In the latter case, some people are going to read the same message three times, and it'll be very annoying by the third time. (see B)
D) Are the posts on-topic? If you write something about killer whales, and you post a link to it on an entry about sperm whales, and another link on an entry about whales in general, and so on, then it's less likely to be spam. If you post the same message to lots of entries about Wales (sic), then it's more likely to be spam. This is because people who are uninterested will read it, and they are more likely to be annoyed by it (see B)
E) How long are the posts? It is better to post a number of short posts that link to your entry about how Camilla is the daughter of Satan, rather than to post the same number of posts each with several pages of the links between her and demonic presences in North Wales. If people have a choice about whether to read something they are less likely to be annoyed by it (see B)
F) Does it pretend not to be a bulk posting? Posts that say "I have chosen YOU, Researcher 123456, out of all researchers on h2g2, to be my partner in life, love, and loofahs" are going to be vastly more annoying than a post that starts off "sorry if you see this as spam, but have you seen [...] ?". In other words, don't add deception to your list of crimes.
G) Does it claim to be important or high urgency? Does it have "IMPORTANT" in the title? Bulk postings are *never* important, and *never* urgent. Even if you think some topic is life-or-death important for everyone on h2g2, trust me, it isn't. Get a sense of proportion and/or some humility.
H) How many readers will there be? How many people are subscribed to this thread or entry? Posting the same thing to the Announcements page, ask h2g2, Peer Review, and the thingites, is always going to be spam - even though it's just four posts and you might make them all slightly different.
