Computer Desktop Encyclopedia
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munging
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munging
Pronounced "mung-ing" or "munj-ing," it is the intentional alteration of the sender's "from" address in an e-mail or Usenet message in order to prevent spam. Programs (bots) cull addresses from servers all over the Internet to add to mailing lists. In order to prevent software from automatically grabbing their addresses, some users mung them so that they cannot be used intact.
Munging is not always condoned. Using invalid sender addresses may violate the rules of some newsgroups and service providers.
Munging Example
The e-mail address hunter@computerlanguage.com could be munged into hunter(AT)computerlanguage(DOT)com or hunter@c-o-m-p-u-t-e-r-l-a-n-g-u-a-g-e.c-o-m. Anyone receiving a message from him and wishing to reply would have to demung the address manually before sending a response.
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1. [derogatory] To imperfectly transform information.
2. A comprehensive rewrite of a routine, data structure or the whole program.
3. To modify data in some way the speaker doesn't need to go into right now or cannot describe succinctly (compare mumble).
4. To add spamblock to an email address.
This term is often confused with mung, which probably was derived from it. However, it also appears the word munge was in common use in Scotland in the 1940s, and in Yorkshire in the 1950s, as a verb, meaning to munch up into a masticated mess, and as a noun, meaning the result of munging something up (the parallel with the kluge/kludge pair is amusing). The OED reports “munge” as an archaic verb meaning “to wipe (a person's nose)”.
