spam vt.,vi.,n.
[from "Monty Python's Flying Circus"] 1. To crash a program by
overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input
data. See also buffer
overflow, overrun
screw, smash the
stack. 2. To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with
irrelevant or inappropriate messages. You can spam a newsgroup
with as little as one well- (or ill-) planned message (e.g.
asking "What do you think of abortion?" on _soc.women_).
This is often done with cross-posting (e.g. any message which is
crossposted to _alt.rush-limbaugh_ and
_alt.politics.homosexuality_ will almost inevitably spam
both groups). This overlaps with troll behavior; the latter more specific term
has become more common. 3. To send many identical or
nearly-identical messages separately to a large number of Usenet
newsgroups. This is more specifically called `ECP', Excessive
Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone
on the Net. See also velveeta and
jello. 4. To bombard a newsgroup with
multiple copies of a message. This is more specifically called
`EMP', Excessive Multi-Posting. 5. To mass-mail unrequested
identical or nearly-identical email messages, particularly those
containing advertising. Especially used when the mail addresses
have been culled from network traffic or databases without the
consent of the recipients. Synonyms include UCE, UBE. 6. Any large,
annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC who
walks away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of
text might say "Oh no, spam".
The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the
Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses
3 4 and 5 are now primary. All three behaviors are considered
abuse of the net, and are almost universally grounds for
termination of the originator's email account or network
connection. In these senses the term `spam' has gone mainstream,
though without its original sense or folkloric freight - there is
apparently a widespread myth among lusers that "spamming" is what happens when you
dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan.