[liberationtech] Terminology correction [was: Freedom Hosting, Tormail Compromised // OnionCloud]

[Rich Kulawiec]

On Wed, Aug 07, 2013 at 08:37:55AM -0500, Crypto wrote:
> Continuing to SPAM the list with your constant bickering only
> increases your lack of credibility.

First, the correct term is "spam", or "Spam" if used at the beginning of
a sentence -- never "SPAM".  "Spam" is the slang term for unsolicited
bulk email (UBE), the canonical definition of spam in the content of
SMTP; it's also been used in other contexts, e.g., NNTP, SMS, and so on.
"SPAM" is a product of the Hormel Corporation, who have been surprisingly
sanguine over many years about our co-opting of the term, doubly
so given its negative connotations, triply so given the litigious
environment we now enjoy.  I think we owe it to them, as a small gesture
of consideration, to avoid conflating the two, especially since it's
trivially easy to avoid doing so.

Also, while SPAM is considered a delicacy by many, it is a rare person
indeed who would say the same about spam.

Second, none of these message constitute spam.  They may be annoying,
welcome, lengthy, short, educational, worthless, enlightening, confusing,
funny, maddening, repetitive, unique, or any number of other things
depending on one's viewpoint: but it is absolutely wrong to label them as
"spam" or to label their authors (by extension) "spammers".  There has
been an unfortunate trend on the part of some who do not know the proper
definition of spam or how to use it to apply the label when it clearly
isn't applicable; the resulting confusion greatly assists the *real*
spammers out there, who have spent much of the last two decades trying to
create as much of it as they possibly can, sometimes with great success.

---rsk