# Has Yahoo done some huge crackdown on spam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724 "2003-04-28T17:33:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dlknox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@dlknox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlknox)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724/21 "2003-05-03T19:17:55Z")
How did the word “spam” get used for junk mass email? I imagine the Hormel people don’t like their meat product associated with something bad. Isn’t Spam trademarked? ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724/22 "2003-05-03T19:42:33Z")
My former ISP decided to “partner” with Yahoo. Whether we liked it or not, our email automatically became Yahoo email. In the previous three years of having those email addresses, not _once_ did I get any spam. _The very day_ the “partnership” went into effect I began receiving 50-100 in _each_ box. Yahoo had their so-called “spam filters” but there would only be 1 or 2 in there each day, with the rest of the up to 100 in my regular mail. Curiously, many of the up to 100 in my regular mail were identical to ones in my bulk mail, so why did those 1 or 2 get caught while identical ones slipped by the filters? Anyway, I switched ISPs and when they asked why they got a real earful. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724/23 "2003-05-03T19:43:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dlknox \* > \*\*How did the word “spam” get used for junk mass email? > > I imagine the Hormel people don’t like their meat product associated with something bad. Isn’t Spam trademarked? \*\* [Read All About It.](http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724/24 "2003-05-03T22:25:49Z")
I dont get any spam at all every in my Yahoo account. But then I never use it.-- its active however. ---
**Author:** ![AzRaek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/azraek/32/16739_2.png) [@AzRaek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AzRaek)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724/25 "2003-05-03T23:50:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Margo \* > \*\*I wish! They used to do a great job, but now I get about 20 a day that slip through, asking me if I need to enlarge my penis or get a new septic tank…and now they use the clever title that says something about mail delivery failure…I fell for it the first time…it is frustrating, but since it is free to me I haven’t complained. Margo \*\* Arg! I get those septic tank ones two or three times a day. Since the email address is blank (they put in MAILDELIVERy@SYNTAX ERROR), it cant be blocked or noted as spam and sent to the bulk mail folder. I use my yahoo for commerce and contests, and have a secret private no one knows but family address for real emails. When my ex and I were together, he was into direct marketing and data mining. What a crock. if they mined data even one inch, theyd know I dont have a penis, nor do I want a larger one. And I live in an apartment! ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724/26 "2003-05-04T14:33:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dlknox \* > \*\*I imagine the Hormel people don’t like their meat product associated with something bad. Isn’t Spam trademarked? \*\* According to [their website](http://www.spam.com/ci/ci_in.htm), Hormel is OK with the term “spam” being used to refer to as junk e-mail, due to the Monty Python origin and because “spam” is always in lower-case. The name of the SPAM product is capitalized. (However, they do object to boxes of SPAM appearing in articles about spam.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-yahoo-done-some-huge-crackdown-on-spam/171724.md?page=1)