Re: [OT] Is "via JavaKB.com" spam?

"David Segall" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:lj62139pa52nok08ceo1riqh1c53duj5q7@xxxxxxxxxx
I think an advertisement in the Author line is spam. Andrew Thompson,
who uses it in his Author line, also thinks it is. He says "I have
been in contact with the JavaKB staff and they have already indicated
an interest in making further changes to their WITUN, in exchange for
me promoting it over GG."

Does anybody disagree?

That's an (unintentionally?) sneaky phrasing: it makes it easier to
(falsely) conclude that if nobody responds, nobody disagrees.

Everybody has their own definition of spam. Mine (in the context of
newsgroup postings) is a post for which the author has no intention of
reading any replies. So for example, someone who posts "Check out my cool
website on J2EE", and then never visits the newsgroup again is a spammer.
Someone who posts "Check out my cool website on J2EE" and then reads any
"feedback" he receives on his site is not a spammer. Someone who writes "I
wrote this shareware Java app. You can download it here. Tell me what you
think" and then reads the constructive criticism and adapts his
application appropriately is not a spammer. Someone who writes "I wrote
this shareware Java app. You can download it here. Tell me what you think"
and then never reads the newsgroup again is a spammer.

Under my definition, Andrew's posts are not spam (since Andrew reads
the replies to his post). Also, my definition doesn't really allow the
possibility for a part of a post to be spam, and the rest to be non-spam.

I don't expect everybody to adopt my definition.

- Oliver


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