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Posted to commits@spamassassin.apache.org by Apache Wiki <wi...@apache.org> on 2005/10/29 22:17:29 UTC

[Spamassassin Wiki] Update of "Ham" by JustinMason

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The following page has been changed by JustinMason:
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/Ham

The comment on the change is:
cleanup, add etymology

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- = What does the word "Ham" mean in this context? =
+ = What does the word "Ham" mean, in the context of anti-spam? =
  
- Probably everybody knows these days what ["Spam"] means in the context of e-mail.
+ Nowadays, it's likely that everyone knows what ["Spam"] means, in the context
- The use of the word Ham on the other hand is relatively new and sometimes confusing.
+ of e-mail.  The use of the word "Ham", on the other hand, is relatively new and
+ sometimes confusing.
  
+ "Ham" is ''e-mail that is not ["Spam"]''.  In other words, "non-spam", or "good
+ mail".   It should be considered a shorter, snappier synonym for "non-spam".
- "Ham" is e-mail that is not ["Spam"], more or less the "good" mail.
- Previously it was often called non-spam or solicited mail.
- Because these words are both a bit long-winded, somebody came up with the catchy word Ham.
  
- ----
- '''Editorial notes''':
+ Its usage is particularly common among anti-spam software developers, and not
+ widely known elsewhere; in general it is probably better to use the term
+ "non-spam", instead.
  
+ == Etymology ==
-  * Can somebody please wordsmith this text a bit? 
-  * Who was it who first introduced the word Ham, does somebody have a link?
  
- Thanks, MalteStretz
+ The word was coined sometime in 2001 or 2002, by the guys working on
+ [http://spambayes.sf.net/ SpamBayes], the Python probabilistic classifier.
  
- I gave it a quick touch-up, but it isn't polished yet.
-  SidneyMarkowitz
- 
- 
- Using 'ham' for non-SPAM mail is extremely irritating. It reminds of the word 'harm' so that everybody thinks of 'ham mail' as some new kind of SPAM in the first place. It shouldn't be used here or anywhere else.
-   lee
-