Hi, On Tue, 04 May 2004 07:04:39 +0100 Graham Murray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Bob Apthorpe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Yup, which is why you always need to spell everything out up front. Blame > > the marketers for twisting the words at every opportunity. But given that > > they're predisposed to doing so, > > Is there nothing that can be done to stop marketers from doing > this? It is very frustrating the way that they dilute the language by > taking what was a technical term with a very specific and precise > meaning and either generalise or completely change the meaning. There's nothing anyone can do about it. It's a cultural war between the technical community and the marketing community. There's no clear winner so the language isn't constant (the winner writes the history and defines the language.) To me, spam is unsolicited bulk email (UBE), independent of content. AFAICT, SA considers spam to be UBE, with the exceptions of malware (mail-borne virus), virus warnings, and misdirected DSNs (bounce spam) - this definition keeps development focussed. Some define it as UBE having only commercial content (UCE.) Some misguided souls define it as 'any mail I don't want.' And from the sending side, there are plenty of marketers who define spam as 'what the other guy sends.' Until there's a clear winner in this cultural war, we can't rely on any random pair of parties agreeing that the language has the same meaning so it needs to be spelled out each time. Inconvenient, but necessary. -- Bob
