Spam

From Zelda Wiki.org

There are quite a few definitions but one such that you may find quite true. Here is it..

>What is Spam?

Spam is an Internet term used to classify those messages you find that are intolerably annoying! One such person could post on a message board and just say “Hello I like eggs” on a thread that has to do with why anime is better than regular cartoons and sitcoms. So the purpose of this article is to inform you and others on the annoyances of spamming. So what exactly is spam? What did it come from? Why do people spam? Are there different kinds of spam? All these questions and more are answered below and I hope you enjoy and learn from this essay. Enjoy

Spam is basically unwanted messages or topics that have nothing to do with the board that they are supposed to be in. An example of spam would be “I am in love <3” in the middle of a serious discussion forum. If you want people to comment on that then why not Private Message it to someone. Spam is also something that should go on within a Private message (pm) and actually happen inside a board or thread. This happens all the time. Private conversations go on in the middle of a public one. It disrupts the flow of the conversation and becomes difficult to read. There are countless amounts of people who spam everyday around the world. They find ways to get to the public through email, forums, websites and advertisements. "Can we stop this?" you may be asking. Surely we could, but there are many loads of types/categories and subcategories of spam and it is almost impossible to stop them all. When one stops another begins.

There are many types of spam. One is what I call buoyancy spam. Buoyancy spam on a message board is used to keep a topic, that otherwise would be dead and sink to the bottom of the page, alive. An example of this is if you start a topic that you believe everyone should see and experience, and when it fails you go to extreme measures. You do the unthinkable, post in your own thread with sole intent on landing it on top of the forums page. Do not hesitate to really post in your thread before the limit of "reviving" has come. It is encouraged that you participate in your own discussion, but if this was to happen to you in a serious situation and you want an honest answer, PM a staff member or a close friend. They'll have a better answer than some forum member that doesn't know you and probably has no idea what they are talking about. If you follow that, then there will be many new and fun topics for you to post in! It works out for everyone in the end.

Apart from that reason, there are more reasons a person spams. One of these reasons could be due to the need for a higher member rank. This type of forum Spam is commonly referred to as “Post Whoring". Post Whoring (sometimes known as "bumping", depending on the situation), as obvious as it is, is basically posting to increase your post count. Many, and I mean many, newbies on forums will post whore. It is defined as by Urban Dictionary "To post on message boards for the sake of posting, to post useless things to raise your post count." It is very well explained in that definition. This is a very serious type of spam as it happens very often and many newbies are forever known for their post whoring. Remember: first impressions on forums are very important!

Another type of spam is called Topic Hoarding. Topic Hoarding is continually posting after each reply to a certain thread. You have to have a say on everything and it annoys the topic creator because they constantly see that you are replying, if the topic poster is not the topic hoarder. An example of Topic Hoarding is a thread started about animals where after every post, the topic creator must reply. On most forums, you cannot be warned for topic hoarding, but it is very annoying. Refrain from doing so.

One more form of spam I want to cover is Stupid Spamming, which covers many types. All the forms of spam are stupid. Some more stupid than others. A form of stupid spamming is Double Posting. Double posting is ignoring the edit button on the forums. When you mess something up why not edit it instead of saying under it “Oh sorry that n was supposed to be a h” That sometimes goes with the form of Post Lifting. People will know they are double posting and actually do it intentionally to get a higher post count. Another form of Stupid Spamming is posting something totally irrelevant to the subject. This creates much annoyance because it takes up valuable bandwidth and makes the forum look very stupid and unprofessional because all of a sudden the reader sees “I love my dog” right in the middle of a topic about why Mozilla Firefox is better than Internet Explorer. Its just plain stupid.

So really all spam is intertwined. But, why do people spam? Spamming is something that stupid newbie’s use. Those type of newbie’s are known as n00bs. Being called a n00b is a very bad thing on the Internet. It is the equivalent of the “a” word for newbie’s new to a forum. Spamming is basically a way to get rid of some stress or just make people laugh at you. Or any of the other reasons above! They all have their reasons for spamming. No one really knows what goes on in the mind of a spammer.

So what have you learned after reading this. Are you attempting to make your posts socially acceptable and make them suitable for public conversation. Are you going to put more effort in your posts? Hopefully this has helped you become a more reputable member of the community wherever you go.

Oh and a note of caution as well, spam is not taken lightly anywhere on the internet.(except on sites and forums ran by n00bs) Spam costs bandwith and thats what causes most sites to go down. Plus, you have to face the almighty wrath of the gods.(Mods)