Editing Spamming (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Monty Python Live 02-07-14 13 04 42 (14598710791).jpg|thumb|Menu from a 2014 stage performance of [[Monty Python]]'s 1970 "[[Spam (Monty Python)|Spam]]" sketch, from where the term is derived. Spam is included in almost every dish to the annoyance and dismay of a customer.]]
The term ''spam'' is derived from the 1970 [[Spam (Monty Python)|"Spam"]] [[sketch comedy|sketch]] of the [[BBC]] sketch comedy television series ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Monty Python|title=Spam - Monty Python's The Flying Circus|date=2009-01-13|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_eYSuPKP3Y| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522231847/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_eYSuPKP3Y| archive-date=2010-05-22 | url-status=dead|access-date=2017-01-11}}</ref>{{ref RFC|2635}} The sketch, set in a [[Cafe (British)|cafe]], has a waitress reading out a menu where every item but one includes the Spam canned luncheon meat. As the waitress recites the Spam-filled menu, a chorus of [[Viking]] patrons drown out all conversations with a song, repeating "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam… Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam!".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thegoodword.co.uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/| title = The Origin of the word 'Spam'| access-date = 2010-09-20| archive-date = 2019-12-16| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191216040211/http://www.thegoodword.co.uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/| url-status = live}}</ref>

In the 1980s the term was adopted to describe certain abusive users who frequented [[Bulletin board system|BBSs]] and [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]]s, who would repeat "Spam" a huge number of times to scroll other users' text off the screen.<ref name="Templetons.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html |title=Origin of the term "spam" to mean net abuse |publisher=Templetons.com |access-date=2013-09-03 |archive-date=2012-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716231643/http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In early chat-room services like PeopleLink and the early days of Online America (later known as America Online or AOL), they actually flooded the screen with quotes from the Monty Python sketch.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} This was used as a tactic by insiders of a group that wanted to drive newcomers out of the room so the usual conversation could continue. It was also used to prevent members of rival groups from chatting—for instance, ''[[Star Wars]]'' fans often invaded ''[[Star Trek]]'' chat rooms, filling the space with blocks of text until the ''Star Trek'' fans left.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://myshelegoldberg.com/the-origins-of-spam/ |title=The Origins of Spam |author=Goldberg, Myshele |access-date=2014-07-15 |archive-date=2014-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719214754/http://myshelegoldberg.com/the-origins-of-spam/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

It later came to be used on [[Usenet]] to mean excessive multiple posting—the repeated posting of the same message. The unwanted message would appear in many, if not all newsgroups, just as Spam appeared in all the menu items in the Monty Python sketch. One of the earliest people to use "spam" in this sense was [[Joel Furr]].<ref name="npr" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7322615.stm |title=Spam blights e-mail 15 years on |author=Darren Waters |date=31 March 2008 |publisher=news.bbc.co.uk |access-date=26 August 2010 |archive-date=31 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131213350/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7322615.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> This use had also become established—to "spam" Usenet was to flood newsgroups with junk messages. The word was also attributed to the flood of "[[Make Money Fast]]" messages that clogged many newsgroups during the 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}} In 1998, the [[New Oxford Dictionary of English]], which had previously only defined "spam" in relation to the trademarked food product, added a second definition to its entry for "spam": "Irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of newsgroups or users."

There was also an effort to differentiate between types of newsgroup spam. Messages that were [[Crossposting|crossposted]] to too many newsgroups at once, as opposed to those that were posted too frequently, were called "velveeta" (after [[velveeta|a cheese product]]), but this term did not persist.<ref>{{Citation | contribution-url = http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/V/velveeta.html | contribution = velveeta | title = The Jargon File | edition = 4.4.7 | publisher = CatB | title-link = Jargon File | access-date = 2014-05-03 | archive-date = 2014-10-17 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141017055032/http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/V/velveeta.html | url-status = live }}.</ref>