Quote:
Originally Posted by markem
What an excellent question! The original and core idea of bombing has sort of been lost at CA, but I will go with the original definition because that's really the spirit that drives all bombing.
Sometimes you notice that someone is being particularly helpful or is having a rough patch or even a good patch of luck or simply is someone on the board whom you have noted. You decide that you would like to send this person some cigars (or maybe something else or even a lot else!) and want to make it a surprise gift "just to make their day." That's called bombing. Often times, people will use the recipient's address as the "ship from" address to make it completely anonymous. This is sort of equivalent to walking up to someone at a herf and handing them a cigar and walking away.
It's about spreading sunshine without calling attention to yourself.
Doesn't quite work that way for many on CA these days, but the spirit is the same.
Note that people often have their addresses in the official CA Rolodex, which is maintained by Pnoon. There are some basic rules about getting access that are designed to thwart spammers. Look for the Rolodex sticky. It used to be much harder to get addresses, which was actually part of the fun.
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Excellent post, Mark. Sums it up nicely.
And you're right, it seems like the sending a bomb for the benefit of the recipient to receive something they may enjoy has been mostly lost and it has become more of a "look at me" exercise by many.