Breidbart Index /bri:d'bart Ind*ks/
A Measurement Of The
Severity Of Spam Invented By Long-time Hacker Seth Breidbart, Used
For Programming Cancelbots.
A measurement of the
severity of spam invented by long-time hacker Seth Breidbart, used
for programming cancelbots. The Breidbart Index takes into account
the fact that excessive multi-posting EMP is worse than
excessive cross-posting ECP. The Breidbart Index is computed
as follows: For each article in a spam, take the square-root of the
number of newsgroups to which the article is posted. The Breidbart
Index is the sum of the square roots of all of the posts in the
spam. For example, one article posted to nine newsgroups and again
to sixteen would have BI = sqrt(9) + sqrt(16) = 7. It is generally
agreed that a spam is cancelable if the Breidbart Index exceeds
20.
The Breidbart Index accumulates over a 45-day window. Ten articles
yesterday and ten articles today and ten articles tomorrow add up
to a 30-article spam. Spam fighters will often reset the count if
you can convince them that the spam was accidental
and/or you have seen the error of your ways and won't repeat it.
Breidbart Index can accumulate over multiple authors. For example,
the "Make Money Fast" pyramid scheme exceeded a BI
of 20 a long time ago, and is now considered "cancel on sight".
