Re: Steven Brust Firefly Novel

In message <lgmbr35u6q0cbk1m2o33uhr9u5lumh4thi@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, nanook 
<no_one@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes
>On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:05:07 -0500, mimus <tinmimus99@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>wrote:
>
>>
>>IIRC your BI == 1.  No sweat.
>Sorry, I'm in my second half century, translation please?

Originally spam referring to excess multiple posting of substantially 
similar material to Usenet. The Briedbart Index (BI) is a means of 
putting a number to it, taking the degree of crossposting, and frequency 
of posting, into account. The consensus is (was?) that posts with a BI 
above a certain value (20?) were fair game for 3rd party cancellation - 
the value was intended to detect spam without giving false positives 
from this like the regular posting of FAQs.

You were not the first person to announce the release of this particular 
Brush novel, so by a definition where the identity of the author is not 
relevant (necessary to include all "Make Money Fast" posts under the 
rubric of spam") the BI was greater than 1, but still well below the 
traditional threshold.

In current usage spam is more widely, and less precisely, defined. To 
some, the commercial element (the exhortation to make a donation) of 
your post pushes it over the line.

(Note that encouraging people to pay for fanfic is disapproved of for 
various reasons, including that it is inimical to tolerance of fanfic by 
rights holders.)
-- 
Stewart Robert Hinsley