Breidbart Index
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. 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".
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