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".
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {BI}{robocanceller}]