from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
mail bomb
<messaging> To send, or urge others to send, massive amounts
of {electronic mail} to a single system or person, with intent
to crash or {spam} the recipient's system. A successful mail
bomb may cause the victim's {disk quota} to be exhausted, the
disk holding his mailbox to fill up, or his computer to spend
a large proportion of its time processing mail.
Mail-bombing is sometimes done in retaliation against someone
persistently abusing {Usenet} and violating {netiquette}.
While it may inconvenience the intended victim (if they gave
their real address), it will probably also inconvenience other
users and administrators of the computers and networks
involved. Mailbombing is thus a serious offense itself.
See {netiquette} for the correct way to respond to perceived
violations.
Compare {letterbomb}, {nastygram}.
[{Jargon File}]
(1995-04-04)