Talk:Newsgroup spam

The article notes that newsgroup spam came before email spam, dating it as 1994. But another page notes that DEC made the first email spam in 1978 (anniversary is around today, give or takle a day or two). Both articles can't be correct. Rhialto 07:16, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, that is right. The Thomas incident did mark the beginning of the never-ending modern wave, but there were isolated incidents of this kind of thing earlier in both mail and news. --iMb~Meow 14:49, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Citation

Please see WP:V and the associated documents regarding citing things from usenet and other self-published sources. Making the claim that " The first widely recognized Usenet spam (though not the most famous) was posted on January 18, 1994 by Clarence L. Thomas IV, a sysadmin at Andrews University. Entitled "Global Alert for All: Jesus is Coming Soon"" with the only citation being usenet violates WP:V. A credible source needs to make that claim or present that as fact in order for it to be used on wikipedia, otherwise its original research.--Crossmr 02:22, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

This article in an exception proving the rule. Obviously, an article about Usenet can legitimately cite Usenet! It is perfectly acceptable to ignore all rules in cases when they are nonsensical, that's why "ignore all rules" exists. --iMeowbot~Meow 02:57, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

actually it can't. You're making a claim about this being the "first" piece of spam. Tell me where on that citation that it credibly sources the fact that that is the first piece of spam? It doesn't. While you can link to that piece of spam as the first piece of spam you need a credible source saying that it is, otherwise, do we just take your word for it?--Crossmr 03:02, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I'm not making any claims about what was the first spam, I didn't write the article. It is extremely obvious, if one merely looks at it, that reference for the Thomas thing is to provide an example of the spam. You are looking for a reference for a different thing, it's not that the reference there fails in what information it does offer. --iMeowbot~Meow 03:10, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

also re-read WP:V it clearly states "These three policies are non-negotiable and cannot be superseded by any other guidelines, or by editors' consensus", which means nothing gives you the ability to ignore it. All we need is a proper citation, an article, a book, something. I'm sure as the inaugural piece of spam someone has covered it somewhere.--Crossmr 03:05, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Um, no, the Google reference is the appropriate place to get an example of the Thomas spam. You are, of course, encouraged to look up and add references for other points you deem important. --iMeowbot~Meow 03:10, 11 July 2006 (UTC)