OT>The Spoofing Poster

• Jazz_Azz wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:

Google rarely reacts to this stuff. Its going on in MANY MANY groups currently. If your software can filter on cross posts they typically post to more than one group.

Yep, just add a filter to kill articles where the "Newsgroups" header contains a comma (,). Any crossposted article is inevitably spam.

Can ya'all tell me what the hell happened to the posts here starting around

1-14-08 or 1-15-08? Is it a virus or something like that or something to do with this cross posting issue you mention here?

Chris

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• Chris D'Agnolo wrote in rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata:

Its called sporge, welcome to Usenet. Its a kid playing with a new toy being circulated to bring the downfall of Usenet. Just ignore it.

Perhaps here that applies. In technical groups it is common to crosspost to more than one group if all cover the topic. Of course, it is also appropriate to have been reading all those groups to be sure that the post is not off topic in them.

When I started reading Usenet, the advice was to read a group for 6 months before posting.

Jim

Right. Nowadays, you're lucky if many of the posters can read at all.

Hey Mr. Cheer, what's that supposed to mean?

Chris

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If they were able to read, surely they would also be able to write well enough to be understood. Q.E.D. (Not to mention LOL, FTW, and WTF.)

Mr. Cheer, eh? I like that.

Well, I'll just show you how ignorant I am (I'm not admitting stupidity, but ignorance), I've been reading this group for .......... well, a long time and I have no idea what you are inferring with "Q.E.D.". It took me forever to figure out what LOL means, WTF comes to me fairly naturally (sorry to say) and I don't remember seeing FTW used, nor do I know what it would infer if I do see it used. Enlighten me if you will. I'm always interested in wiping out ignorance where ever possible (stupidity on the other hand well, that would be impossible!).

TIA Mr. Cheer (I thought you might LOL on that one ;-) Chris

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It's the abbreviation for "quod erat demonstrandum," Latin for "thus it is proven" and the traditional last line of a geometry proof or logic syllogism. A scholarly version of "neener-neener" if you will.

As for the others, I was making fun of the semi-literate whose posts consist entirely of currently-faddish acronyms. Presumably, they are evidence of belonging to an "in" group. Since you and I will never be part of such a group, we're not supposed to understand. :-)

Wikipedia is a good reference for acronyms and other arcana of transient modern culture.

Hey Mr. Cheer,

I'm not sure about it being an "in" group, as much as it being the first generation that is growing up where communicating online is something that has always been around during their lifetime.

I have watched my daughter chat online and they can exchange a huge amount of data with very few keystrokes. It seems semi-literate to an old fogie like me, even though I know many acronyms, but they are having no trouble understanding each other.

Many of the acronyms have been used regularly since I have been online. How long must they be used before they are no longer transient or currently-faddish? :-)

Pat

Hey Mr. Cheer,

Actually, without looking it up, (GF), I though it stood for "what was to be proven," not "thus it is proven." Of course, every listener to the proof recognizes that it has been proven. It is just a reminder that it is the starting question, so we are finished.

Leon

I am reminded of frogs around a pond, croaking just to let the other frogs know they're still alive. Not sophisticated and erudite discourse, such as we practice here.

Old people chatting are just as bad. They use real English, but all they talk about is their ailments, or going to funerals.

After our passing, one can only hope. Acronyms have their place, and the useful ones have staying power (FWIW, BTW, SWMBO). But don't you think the others lose some meaning in statements such as "Yuo su'X ftw. Im g0nna brake u'r neck lol."

Well it's entertaining just being in the same newsgroup with so much intelligence ;-) Here I thought we were talking about English and I find out we're also talking Latin!

Chris

99BBB

I am not suggesting that anything too sophisticated was being transmitted, but this is an entirely new phenomenon, much like the phone was. There are a few nerds, (nerds in a good way), on here that have been using online communication for quite some time, but it is a fairly recent thing for most people.

I still get to hear the occasional WW2 story. Good stuff there... ;-)

Gotcha, I saw lots of "OMG" and "BF".... OMG and a few others actually being used in place of speech by a lot of people, which is a little scary.

Pat

And to think, years ago we were concerned that younger generations would take our jobs from us. Fat chance, assuming one's job requires writing precise, unambiguous English. Note that youngsters never complain that old farts' writing is hard to understand.

Of course, I'm among the miniscule percentage of the population that has neither a cellphone nor an iPod. No cable TV, either. A little while ago, I was playing some records that will be 50 years old this year. I'm hopeless.

Oh ye of little faith. ;-)

I may be biased, but my offspring is an upgrade from the two that produced her. (insert your own joke here). She seems to be more naive than I was at her age, but if she is an indication of what is coming up, then we will be in good hands.

Hey, don't feel so bad. I have a cell, but it is my only phone. No iPod, no cable TV, and I still listen to music on a Panasonic boom box that I bought in 1989. Also, no DVD player except for the one in my computer, which is an aging collection of free spare parts that should have never come to life, but somehow did.....

Pat - also hopeless

No cell phone. That is excellent. I actually liked the first phone I had: no camera, no extra junk, just a little flip-phone with a good battery and caller-ID on the outside. After I lost that one I could not find a replacement with as few features, at least not for free from the cell phone provider. Now I have some stupid Nokia with every imaginable bell and whistle. I hate the damned thing.

What records?

Got my cell from T-Mobile when I hooked up with their Pre-paid service, the BEST ONE of all of them. Bought reasonably priced a Samsung T209, little flip phone that is a basic phone, with caller ID on the outside, similar to what described. They may still have them. That was Feb 2007.