Talk:Terms of use/Archives/2012-08

Latest comment: 11 years ago by Mdennis (WMF) in topic Translating "spam" and "junk mail"

Translating "spam" and "junk mail"

Hallo,

I'm translating the Terms of Use into Hebrew. There's this part:

  • Engaging in harassment, threats, stalking, spamming, or vandalism; and
  • Transmitting chain mail, junk mail, or spam to other users.

It says "spam" twice, which is a bit unclear. It also says "junk mail".

Can anybody please clarify what is the difference between "spam" and "junk mail"? Does "spam" in this context refer to any kind of repetitive messaging? Or bulk messaging? Then what is "junk mail" - advertising? --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 08:56, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi, Amir. :) Thanks so much for helping with this translation! In terms of distinguishing between "spam" and "junk mail", to be honest, I don't think there's a lot of distinction myself. If I were translating it, I would probably focus on the fact that the term spam is often used for bulk email advertisements, while "junk mail" (in bulk or not) can refer to a wider variety of unwanted contacts. For instance, the OTRS team flags advertisements as "spam" but frequently puts bulk letters about political issues (not the ones that relate to articles, but the variety of 'Stop this horrible thing from happening now!') into "Junk (non spam)". I myself regard it as spam, too, but I've been told that others disagree. --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 15:17, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
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