Happy Spamday

[gi7omy]

Yes folks - today is the 30th anniversary of the very first spam

 

It was sent to 300 subscribers on Arpanet by DEC (and went down like a lead balloon)

 

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatth...om/first96.html

 

"...DIGITAL WILL BE GIVING A PRODUCT PRESENTATION OF THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE

DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY; THE DECSYSTEM-2020, 2020T, 2060, AND 2060T. THE

DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY OF COMPUTERS HAS EVOLVED FROM THE TENEX OPERATING SYSTEM

AND THE DECSYSTEM-10 <PDP-10> COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE. BOTH THE DECSYSTEM-2060T

AND 2020T OFFER FULL ARPANET SUPPORT UNDER THE TOPS-20 OPERATING SYSTEM.

THE DECSYSTEM-2060 IS AN UPWARD EXTENSION OF THE CURRENT DECSYSTEM 2040

AND 2050 FAMILY. THE DECSYSTEM-2020 IS A NEW LOW END MEMBER OF THE

DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY AND FULLY SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE WITH ALL OF THE OTHER

DECSYSTEM-20 MODELS.

 

WE INVITE YOU TO COME SEE THE 2020 AND HEAR ABOUT THE DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY

AT THE TWO PRODUCT PRESENTATIONS WE WILL BE GIVING IN CALIFORNIA THIS

MONTH. THE LOCATIONS WILL BE:

 

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1978 - 2 PM

HYATT HOUSE (NEAR THE L.A. AIRPORT)

LOS ANGELES, CA

 

THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1978 - 2 PM

DUNFEY'S ROYAL COACH

SAN MATEO, CA

(4 MILES SOUTH OF S.F. AIRPORT AT BAYSHORE, RT 101 AND RT 92)

 

A 2020 WILL BE THERE FOR YOU TO VIEW. ALSO TERMINALS ON-LINE TO OTHER

DECSYSTEM-20 SYSTEMS THROUGH THE ARPANET. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND,

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THE NEAREST DEC OFFICE

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXCITING DECSYSTEM-20 FAMILY.

 

Now you know who to blame!..."

[lynn98109]

From a marketing standpoint, the email was a success: About 20 people came to each of Mr. Thuerk's open houses, and he estimates it led to more than $12 million in sales. But the email also earned Mr. Thuerk instant notoriety. "People started complaining immediately," he says. He received a letter telling him he broke the rules of the Arpanet, the Internet's predecessor. (There was an unwritten rule that people wouldn't use the Arpanet to sell things; Mr. Thuerk says he only promoted a product.) A major from the Defense Department called Mr. Thuerk's boss at the now-defunct Digital Equipment Corp. and made him promise that Mr. Thuerk would never send an email like that again. Mr. Thuerk never did.

 

Mr. Thuerk has embraced his place in history as the father of spam. It has landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records, and he does promotional work for antispam companies from time to time. He says people have one of three reactions when they meet him: Some are excited to meet someone with an unusual claim to fame; some want to beat him up on the spot; and others just avoid him like the plague.

 

Mr. Thuerk doesn't think people should blame him for the current spam deluge. "If the airline loses your luggage do you blame the Wright brothers?" he asks.

 

Mr. Thuerk may not truly know the pain that comes from flipping through hundreds of "cheap Rolex" emails because he never receives spam. After his inbox was flooded with unsolicited messages, he switched his email account and stopped filling out forms online. "Now I just give my phone number," he says.

quoted from a brief item by Ben Worthen in today's WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

Lynn