Joel K. "Jay" Furr (born 1967 in Roanoke, Virginia) is an American writer and software trainer notable as a Usenet personality in the early and mid-1990s. According to

Brad Templeton Brad Templeton (born June 1960 near Toronto) is a Canadian software developer, internet entrepreneur, online community pioneer, publisher of news, comedy, science fiction and e-books, writer, photographer, civil rights advocate, futurist, public s ...

, Furr is one of the earliest people to refer to unsolicited electronic messages as "

spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...

". The term "spam" had been widely used by Monty Python fans to describe excessive torrents of verbiage on electronic chat systems and

multi-user dungeon A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, ...

s, analogous to the Vikings chanting "spam spam spam spam spam, WONDERFUL SPAM" in the famous Python sketch. Furr used the term in the USENET newsgroup news.admin.policy to describe an out-of-control automated robo-moderation system known as ARMM. While he didn't coin the phrase, he appears to have been the first to use it to describe the phenomenon as it applied to USENET newsgroups. Furr created a line of Usenet kook T-shirts, which included a "Serdar Argic World Tour" shirt as well as one imprinted with the programming code for RSA encryption, boasting "This shirt is a munition", a reference to US export law. He is an alumnus of the University of Georgia and its Demosthenian Literary Society. Furr serves as the official "Weigher of Coal" for

Richmond, Vermont Richmond is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,167. The main settlement of Richmond, in the north-central part of town, is a census-designated place (CDP), with a population of 853 at ...

. Furr appeared in the editorial pages of the ''Washington Post'' on May 11, 2018, with an editorial noting that despite having no official duties whatsoever as Weigher of Coal, he is still required to follow strict ethical standards.

References

External links

* David DeLaney
net.legends FAQ
September 13, 1994. Retrieved October 18, 2005. * Joel K. "Jay" Furr
Joel Furr FAQ
version 4.9. May 1, 2005. Retrieved October 18, 2005. * Jon Wiener, Static in Cyberspace: Free Speech on the Internet. '' The Nation'', June 13, 1994.
online reprint
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furr, Joel 1967 births Living people Writers from Roanoke, Virginia Usenet people Virginia Tech alumni University of Georgia alumni