Re: OT: Stroker This is SPAM
- From: "QVC Collectables" <laughterlasts@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 6 Mar 2006 20:27:36 -0800
Archive-name: usenet/spam-faq
Posting-Frequency: weekly
Last-modified: 1998/11/10
URL: http://www.killfile.org/faqs/spam.html
Maintainer: tskirvin@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Tim Skirvin)
Original-Author: clewis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Chris Lewis)
Current Spam thresholds and guidelines.
This article is intended to describe the current consensus spam
thresholds
and ensure that the definitions of these terms are available and
consistent.
It is believed that most, if not all, spam cancellers use these terms
and
definitions in their work; however, many other people use the terms
inappropriately, which leads to confusion in discussions. This is an
informal FAQ aimed at clarity and understanding, not anal-retentive
correctness.
Excessive Multi-Posting (EMP) has the same meaning as the term "spam"
usually carries, but it is more accurate and self-explanatory. EMP
means,
essentially, "too many separate copies of a substantively identical
article."
"Substantively identical" means that the material in each article is
sufficiently similar to construe the same message. The signature is
included in the determination. These are examples of substantively
identical articles:
- byte-for-byte identical messages
- otherwise identical postings minimally customized for
each group it appears in.
- advertising the same service.
- articles that consist solely of the same signature
- articles which consist of inclusions of other user's
postings, but are otherwise identical.
Cross-posting means that a single message appears in more than one
group.
Most newsreaders allow you to specify more than one group in a posting.
Excessive Crossposting (ECP) refers to where a "lot" of postings to
more
than one group each have been made.
Some people think cross-posting is "bad". In and of itself, it's good
behaviour - it allows you to reach more groups with less impact on the
net.
Especially if you set the Followup-to: header to one group. It is
"bad"
when it's done to attack newsgroups or provoke flamewars (like
cross-posting
how to cook a cat between alt.tasteless and rec.pet.cats), but this is
beyond
the scope of this FAQ.
This author considers the term "spam" to mean excessive postings of
EMP and/or ECP variety. That is, "spam", is a generic term for several
different things. The term was originally supposed to mean EMPs only,
but
most people use "spam" to mean "any excessive posting".
A spam, EMP, or ECP therefore refers to a posting that has been posted
to
many places. There is a consensus that there is a point at which it is
abuse, and is subject to advisory cancellation.
A formula has been invented by Seth Breidbart which attempts to
quantify the degree of "badness" of a spam (whether EMP or ECP) as a
single number. The Breidbart Index (BI) is defined as the sum of the
square roots of n (n is the number of newsgroups each copy was posted
to).
Example: If two copies of a posting are made, one to 9 groups, and one
to 16, the BI index is sqrt(9)+sqrt(16) = 3+4 = 7.
The BI2 (Breidbart Index, version 2) is an experimental metric, which
may eventually replace the BI. It is calculated by computing the sum
of the square roots of n, plus the sum of n, and dividing by two. Eg:
one posting to 9, and one to 16 is
(sqrt(9) + sqrt(16) + 9 + 16) / 2
( 3 + 4 + 9 + 16 ) / 2 = 32 / 2 = 16
The BI2 is more "aggressive" than the BI, intended to cut off the
"higher
end". BI allows about 125 newsgroups maximum. BI2 allows a maximum of
35.
A slightly less aggressive index is the SBI (Skirvin-Breidbart Index);
it
is calculated much the same as the BI2, but sums the number of groups
in
the Followup-to: header (if available), rather than the newsgroups.
Eg:
one posting to 9 groups, and one to 16 with followups set to 4 is
(sqrt(9) + sqrt(16) + 9 + 4) / 2
( 3 + 4 + 9 + 4 ) / 2 = 20 / 2 = 10
Except in nl.*, where the SBI is followed, the BI2 and SBI are not used
to
determine whether a spam is cancellable.
The thresholds for spam cancels are based _only_ on one or more of the
following measures:
1) The BI is 20 or greater over a 45 day period.
2) is a continuation of a previous EMP/ECP, within a 45 day
sliding window. That is: if the articles posted within the
past 45 days exceeds a BI threshold of 20, it gets removed,
unless the originator has made a clear and obvious effort to
cease spamming (which includes an undertaking to do so
posted in news.admin.net-abuse.usenet). This includes "make
money fast" schemes which passed the EMP/ECP thresholds
several years ago. This author recommends one posting
cross-posted to no more than 10 groups, no more often than
once every two weeks (a BI of 3).
A single posting cannot be cancellable - to reach a BI of 20, it would
have to be cross-posted to 400 groups. This isn't possible due to
limitations in Usenet software.
These thresholds nominally apply to all hierarchies - not just the
Big-8
and alt.*. Many hierarchies have more restrictive rules, which are
decided
upon and enforced by their users and administrators; they may also opt
out
of the cancellations, at the discretion of the same users and admins.
These cancels have nothing whatsoever to do with the contents of the
message. It doesn't matter if it's an advertisement, it doesn't matter
if
it's abusive, it doesn't matter whether it's on-topic in the groups it
was
posted in, it doesn't matter whether the posting is for a "good cause"
or
not - spam is cancelled regardless, based on _how many times_ it was
said
and not _what_ was said.
.
- References:
- Prev by Date: Re: Stroker Ace = Leon of Mission Viejo, CA
- Next by Date: Re: Stroker Ace = Leon of Mission Viejo, CA
- Previous by thread: Re: OT: What N.O. locals think of the situation <--- KK thinks he can play! LOL
- Next by thread: Re: OT: Mulays brain is SPAM
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
