Brad Templeton On Spam's Silver Anniversary

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.

Comments

So..

[CausticWindow]

What do you think Hormel thinks about this mess? All publicity is good publicity? I don't think so. I haven't bought a can of Spam for the last three years. Guess why.

I'll tell you their lawyers are constantly tearing their hair out, for not slapping Monty Python with a cease and desist, all those years ago. Now do you understand people like American Greetings? If they don't defend their trademarks, they might end up as the next Spam. What would you do if your trademark for the last hundred years, suddenly were smeared into oblivion by greedy net users all over the world?

Re:So..

[silentbozo]

Actually, the last time Spam was on sale at the local supermarket, I went and bought a bunch (low-sodium, fries up well, and tastes great with rice.) Even though I'm rabidly anti-spam (anti-uce), I have a very positive attitude toward Hormel. They're smart enough to understand that Spam, the meat product, is very different from spam, the generic term for junk e-mail/usenet postings. Moreover, they've delineated what is permissible in terms of using "spam" to refer to junk e-mail - no use of the Hormel logo, using spam vs. Spam (tm). I think their courtesy should be repaid with an equal dose of courtesy from the community. Hurrah for Hormel!