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Most definitions for it include whether the message is irrelevant or unwanted. Trying to define it purely as unsolicited gets into weird cases where you'd say t

Most definitions for it include whether the message is irrelevant or unwanted. Trying to define it purely as unsolicited gets into weird cases where you'd say that an emergency tornado alert is spam because it's unsolicited. Maybe there's a definition if spam where that's the case but if the residents of an area find that alert useful it seems unlikely that they would describe it as spam, even though they didn't solicit the warning

shkkmo 3y ago
I don't see any definition that address "irrelevancy" but many do mention "unwanted", which is effectively the same thing as saying "unsolicited". Edit: Emergency alerts are solicited by owning a phone in a country that mandates that cell carriers send those messages.
- vikramkr 3y ago
  For me googling spam definition brings up google definition in which irrelevant is the first word. Before getting sidetracked on definitions of other words, I would be deeply surprised if asking a bunch of people on the street "If you received a message you didn't ask for and didn't expect, but it turns out you are very glad you received it and it provided you value, is that spam?" resulted in a broad consensus around "yes" Unwanted and unsolicited are definitely not the same thing, whether or not you solcit something has nothing to do with if you want it, I'm not sure how those are synonymous. And if being mandated to recieve a message by someone else counts as you soliciting the message, where solicit in its most common definition means to ask for, then I guess that means that everything is solicited?
  - shkkmo 3y ago
    Since you failed to post the "google definition", here's the one I get at the top when googling "spam definition" > Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail. Note, "unsolicited" is the first word and "irrelevant" does not appear anywhere and there is no discussion of the utility of the message to the recipient.
- guitarbill 3y ago
  > Edit: Emergency alerts are solicited by owning a phone in a country that mandates that cell carriers send those messages. That's so pedantic, I'm inclined to disagree - if it's even correct. Not everything that's unsolicited is spam. An unsolicited thank you note isn't spam. More components of spam are traditionally a large, indiscriminate number of receivers, and low quality messaging. Irrelevancy does partially capture both of these.
  - shkkmo 3y ago
    You may view it as "pedantic" but it is how language works. There is a complex set of social expectations around when a thank you note is unsolicited. I could start trying to describe them, but then you'd probably call me pedantic again.

shkkmo 3y ago

I don't see any definition that address "irrelevancy" but many do mention "unwanted", which is effectively the same thing as saying "unsolicited". Edit: Emergency alerts are solicited by owning a phone in a country that mandates that cell carriers send those messages.

vikramkr 3y ago
For me googling spam definition brings up google definition in which irrelevant is the first word. Before getting sidetracked on definitions of other words, I would be deeply surprised if asking a bunch of people on the street "If you received a message you didn't ask for and didn't expect, but it turns out you are very glad you received it and it provided you value, is that spam?" resulted in a broad consensus around "yes" Unwanted and unsolicited are definitely not the same thing, whether or not you solcit something has nothing to do with if you want it, I'm not sure how those are synonymous. And if being mandated to recieve a message by someone else counts as you soliciting the message, where solicit in its most common definition means to ask for, then I guess that means that everything is solicited?
- shkkmo 3y ago
  Since you failed to post the "google definition", here's the one I get at the top when googling "spam definition" > Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail. Note, "unsolicited" is the first word and "irrelevant" does not appear anywhere and there is no discussion of the utility of the message to the recipient.
guitarbill 3y ago
> Edit: Emergency alerts are solicited by owning a phone in a country that mandates that cell carriers send those messages. That's so pedantic, I'm inclined to disagree - if it's even correct. Not everything that's unsolicited is spam. An unsolicited thank you note isn't spam. More components of spam are traditionally a large, indiscriminate number of receivers, and low quality messaging. Irrelevancy does partially capture both of these.
- shkkmo 3y ago
  You may view it as "pedantic" but it is how language works. There is a complex set of social expectations around when a thank you note is unsolicited. I could start trying to describe them, but then you'd probably call me pedantic again.