Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Brad Templeton On Spam's Silver Anniversary

Posted by timothy on from the silver-bullets-for-spammers dept.

Brad Templeton writes "This Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the first spam I was able to find, and one month ago was the 10th anniversary of the first time a USENET posting was called a spam and the birth of the term (at least beyond mudds)." Templeton was also cited in the American Scientist article featured last Sunday.

8 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Today Also... by neurostar · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... marks the 2-day anniversary of the first SPAM* on /. about an article about the first SPAM.

    * often refered to a 'dupe'

  2. Re:Not a celebration... I hope by spumoni_fettuccini · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello, my name is Indigo Montoya. You spammed my father, prepare to die.

    --
    -- Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant.
  3. Simpsons by m.e.l.l.e.n.t.i.n.e · · Score: 4, Funny

    His story reminds me of how Abe Simpson (Grandpa Simpson) tells stories...

    "I needed a new heel for my shoe. So, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. 'Give me five bees for a quarter', you'd say. Now, where were we? Oh, yeah...the important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war; the only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..."

    --

    Producer: NEXT!!
    Ralph Wiggum: Chicken necks
  4. So you're saying... by YottaMatt · · Score: 3, Funny

    You don't buy meat (or something that closely resembles meat) because its a synonym to unsolicited email?

    Would it be safe to guess you live in a house (or closet, or cave) with only doors too?

  5. Be careful what you wish for... by SysKoll · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... For you might just Get It.

    [Insert partial list of the 10 gazillions Internet dating services found by Yahoo alone].

    I hope that unearthing this ancient post will not make RMS lose his aura of geekness. What, he wanted to get laid? With all that code to write? Sheesh... What was he, a business major?

    --

    --
    Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/

  6. Re:1937: The Birth of Spam by Jason1729 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hormel sure got their $100 worth out of the term.

    Jason
    ProfQuotes

  7. I would *hate* to be the admin for that domain... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 4, Funny

    How many times have you filled in a "You must give us an email address" box with something like "fuckoff@spam.com" or similar?

    Poor bloody mail admins at Hormel, their lives must be hell. And what about if they accidentally left an open relay?

  8. Re:Hold on a sec by freeweed · · Score: 2, Funny

    Besides, the practice of flooding peoples' inboxes doesn't really happen that way very much anymore.

    bughunter@earthlink.net

    Let's test that theory :)

    --
    Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.