"Flaming" is where I, in a very hostile manner, take you to task for
something, e.g., being a "newbie," having the audacity to disagree with a
position I have taken, or just for the heck of it. I post this flame to
the area you've been posting in and may take the liberty of questioning
your intelligence, ancestry, or just littering the space with obscenities.
Not having to see who you are yelling at often seems to inspire extreme
responses.
"Spamming" comes from (and correct me if I'm wrong on this one) the
immortal Viking skit from Monty Python (spammity spam, wonderful spam)
where each breakfast option has spam, and each has more spam than the
last. On the net, it refers to posting the same message in many usenet
groups, listservs, or whatever, so that we netizens run into numerous
times, and become very annoyed. This sort of behavior can often prompt
flames.
Interestingly, spamming is far more frowned upon than flaming. By the way, if any of you have never eaten Spam, it's awful.
Michael Leventhal
<wiredlaw[_at_]aol.com>
Received on Tue Oct 24 1995 - 18:05:54 GMT
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