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INTERNET NEWSGROUP
Browsing web pages or search engines is one way to get information off the ’net. But asking a
question on an appropriate Newsgroup is often much better. Here are some of the terms you’ll
find used – and over the page, many of those mysterious abbreviations!
add (also join and subscribe)
The act of adding a newsgroup to your
personal list of newsgroups. These are the
groups that you see when you start up your
newsreader. See also: remove.
articles that show up – the other articles have
expired.)
Utility for automatic downloading and
processing of binary files, such as images,
sounds, or shareware.
“include everything under this”)
rec.collecting. (recreation groups about
collecting)
rec.collecting.sport.* recreation groups
about sports collecting)
rec.collecting.sport.football (a recreation
group about sports collecting, specifically
football)
Note that rec.collecting.sport.* would also
include sports collecting groups about baseball, hockey, etc.
There are also special, regional, and local
hierarchies that may not be available to all
people.
flame
kill file
FAQ
An individual message in a newsgroup. When
a person sends or posts an article and other
people reply to it, it forms a thread.
(Frequently Asked Questions) A list of
answers to Frequently Asked Questions and
other useful information for a newsgroup.
(When pronouncing, spell it out or rhyme
“FAQ” with “back.”) Always read a newsgroup’s FAQ before you post.
binary
FileGrabber
article (also post)
A type of newsgroup article that contains encoded binary information, such as a picture,
sound, or software application. There are
special groups for binary files, such as alt.
binaries.clip-art.
cancel, cancelbot
The act of retracting or removing one’s newsgroup article. Cancelbots are programs that
cancel spam posts.
charter
An angry newsgroup article or e-mail that
viciously attacks someone or something.
Usually written in the heat of the moment. Often starts a flamewar. Also, the act of sending
or posting a flame. A person who flames is a
“flamer.”
A file used by some newsreaders to reject
unwanted articles. A kill file will reject posts
containing words, authors, or subjects that
you don’t want to see. Also known as a
“bozo filter.” (Some newsgroup users signify
adding an article or thread to their killfile by
replying with the word “*plonk*.”)
An official description of what a newsgroup
is all about, whether it’s moderated, and what
kinds of topics the group will discuss. For
specific information about a newsgroup, read
the group’s FAQ.
flame bait
Provocative material in an article that,
intentionally or unintentionally, will make
people angry and invite flames in response.
See trolling.
list unread
cross-post
flame war
list all
follow up (also reply)
lurk
To copy an article to multiple newsgroups.
Cross-posting should be done sparingly, and
only when the post is relevant to the affected
newsgroups. Excessive cross-posting is a lot
like spam, and is nicknamed “velveeta.”
A argument or fight that takes place in
newsgroup articles or e-mail. Flamewars
involve lots of name-calling, nasty insults,
and “YELLING.”
delurk
To respond to an article by posting a response to the newsgroup. See quoting.
To post an article to a newsgroup for the first
time. (Just like when a radio-show caller says
“Long-time listener, first-time caller.”) See lurk.
Emoticon (also smiley)
Little faces made out of keyboard characters,
used to express smiles :-) winks ;-) surprise
:-0 and more. (If you don’t understand the
emoticon, put your left ear on your left shoulder and look again!)
expired article
Newsgroup articles are stored for a limited
time, after which they are deleted to make
room for new ones. An article that has been
deleted and no longer available has “expired.” (This is why the number of articles
listed doesn’t always match the number of
92 Silicon Chip
header
Part of a newsgroup article or e-mail message that contains information needed by the
computers that handled it. Hard-to-read but
informative,the message ID, date, and time.
hierarchy
The categories of newsgroups. The main categories are: comp. (computer topics), misc.
(miscellaneous), news. (newsgroup-related
stuff), rec. (recreation), sci. (science), soc.
(society), talk. (discussion), and alt. (alternative). Hierarchies are arranged so they get
more specific as you work your way down.
For example:
rec.* (recreation groups — the “*” means
A newsreader command that allows you to
see only the messages that you haven’t read
before in a given newsgroup.
A newsreader command that shows you all
the messages in a newsgroup, including
messages you have already read (as long as
they haven’t expired).
To read articles in a newsgroup without posting any of your own. Always lurk a
while before posting, to get a feel for the
newsgroup. A person who lurks is a “lurker.”
See delurk.
mark read (also catch up)
A newsreader command that marks all the
articles in a newsgroup as having been read.
Do this after you’ve read the interesting posts
in a newsgroup and only want to see new
posts the next time you visit.
MMF
An abbreviation for MAKE MONEY FAST;
also the generic name for any of the useless,
futile, and often illegal pyramid schemes that
promise to “make $5 into $50,000” or “GET
RICH QUICK” by spamming newsgroups.
www.siliconchip.com.au
COMMON TERMS
There’s a Newsgroup for every conceivable subject – and then some!
If you have Internet access, you almost certainly have Newsgroup
access. Ask your ISP if you don’t know how to subscribe.
They don’t work, they’re annoying and people
will flame you, so don’t ever do it. Posting
MMF-type posts is very bad netiquette.
moderated newsgroup
A newsgroup where all posts must be
approved before they can be seen by all. The
people who do the filtering are known as
moderators. Moderated newsgroups typically
have a lot of information, and very little spam
or garbage. See signal-to-noise ratio.
Netiquette
Network etiquette. Since there are no Internet
Police, a set of rules and guidelines on
acceptable behavior has developed organically. Netiquette includes things like not
spamming, learning to lurk before posting,
and more. Learn netiquette and you won’t get
flamed.
newbie
A beginner. All experts were newbies once.
cause it lets people know what you’re talking
about. Quoted material often is preceded by
“>” and looks like:
> This is an example of quoted material. Here
is some more
> quoted material, to let people know what
you are replying to.
This would be where your new comments
would begin.
reply
subscribe
A newsgroup article that is posted to the
newsgroup as a response to another post.
It’s usually a good idea to quote from the article you’re replying to so people know what
you’re talking about. When replying, avoid
posting simply “me too” or “I agree.”
To add a newsgroup to the list of groups you
want to read. If you subscribe to a group,
that newsgroup will appear every time you
open your newsreader. In the vast majority of
cases, subscribing is free. See unsubscribe.
Request for Discussion (RFD)
A test message, usually posted by newbies.
Test messages should only be sent to newsgroups specifically designed for this purpose,
such as misc.test. Warning: put “Ignore” in
your test message’s subject or body, unless
you want lots of automatically generated
response mail.
newsgroup (also group)
signal-to-noise ratio
newsreader
The software you use to access newsgroups.
A newsreader lets you read articles, respond
to them, and post your own.
periodic posting
A newsgroup article that is posted to a group
or groups at regular intervals. An example
of a periodic posting would be a FAQ (list of
Frequently Asked Questions) or other helpful
information.
post
A newsgroup article. Also, the act of sending
an article to a newsgroup so that others can
read and reply to it.
quote
To include part of a previous post when you
follow up to it. Quoting is a good idea be-
www.siliconchip.com.au
spoiler
The newsgroup command to unsubscribe
from a newsgroup.
remove
Another name for newsgroups. Also “Netnews,” “USENET,” or “Usenet.”
An Internet discussion forum, such as rec.
pets.cats or alt.internet.services. All together,
the thousands of newsgroups form a global
bulletin board where people talk about every
topic imaginable. Newsgroups are where you
post articles.
used so often that it crowds everything else
out.
Information that may diminish the enjoyment
someone else gets from a book, movie, tv
show, etc. Example: Posting “The Titanic
sinks!!!” in a current movies newsgroup may
spoil someone who hasn’t seen Titanic. Be
nice: Use warnings (like adding “SPOILER:
Titanic” to the subject line) and add spoiler
space (blank lines before spoiler information)
to posts that may contain spoilers.
An official posting to news.groups that asks
for comments and opinions regarding the
proposal to create a new newsgroup. Part of
the formal newsgroup creation process.
news
(Sorry – we
didn’t mean
to yell!)
An electronics term used to compare the
amount of good, useful info (“signal”) in a
newsgroup with the amount of bad, useless
junk (“noise”). Newsgroups that have lots of
flame wars and spam have a low signal-tonoise ratio.
signature (also sig)
Text added to the bottom of an article or
e-mail to give the reader more information
about the poster. Signatures can include
e-mail and Web addresses, quotes, text art,
and more, though signatures should not be
longer than 4 or 5 lines.
spam
An article that is sent to hundreds or
thousands of different newsgroups, and has
nothing to do with any of them. Often advertisements or “MAKE MONEY FAST”-type
chain letters. Very annoying and a very bad
violation of netiquette. The act of sending
spam is “spamming.” Someone who sends
spam is a “spammer.” The term “spam”
comes from the Monty Python sketch where
the name of the canned meat product is
test
thread
A thread is an ongoing discussion of related
messages that grows from one particular
posting.
troll
A purposely stupid, inflammatory, or
downright wrong article (closely related to
flamebait). Its purpose is to get people mad
and make them look stupid and gullible
unsubscribe
To remove a newsgroup from your newsreader’s active list. If you unsubscribe, you will
no longer see the newsgroup when you open
your newsreader. You can always subscribe
again.
Usenet (also USENET)
The full name of newsgroups is “Usenet
Newsgroups.”
YELLING
To yell on a newsgroup, use capitals. Unless
you are deliberately yelling, using capitals is
considered to be pretty bad Netiquette!
September 2001 93
Newsgroup Abbreviations
COMMON ABBREVIATIONS
COMMON (and many uncommon!) EMOTICONS
AFAIK AKA ASAP BTW BRB FAQ FYI FWIW FIIK FUBAR -
:-)
(-:
:-(
;-)
#-)
=:O
:-|
~~:-[
:-$
:-P
:-<at>
“As Far As I Know”
“Also Known As”
“As Soon As Possible”
“By The Way”
“Be Right Back”
“Frequently asked questions”
“For Your Information”
“For What It’s Worth”
“. . . If I Know"
“. . . Up Beyond All
Recognition”
GD&R - “Grinning, Ducking and
Running (After snide remark)
IAEF “If All Else Fails”
IANAL - “I Am Not A Lawyer (But...)”
IDK “I don’t know”
IMHO - “In My Humble Opinion”
IMO “In My Opinion”
IYKWIM - “If You Know What I Mean”
IYKWIMAITYD - “If You Know What I
Mean And I Think You Do”
LOL “Laughing Out Loud”
OK abbreviation of “oll korrect”,
alteration of “all correct”
OTOH - On The Other Hand
PITA “Pain In The Ass”
PMFJI - “Pardon Me For Jumping In”
PS “Post Script”
TIA “Thanks In Advance”
TPTB - “The Powers That Be”
TTFN - “Ta Ta For Now”
ROTFL - “Rolling On The Floor
Laughing”
RTFM - “Read The . . . Manual
SOHF - “Sense Of Humor Failure”
SWALK - “Sealed With A Loving Kiss”
WRT “With Respect To”
WYSIWYG - “What You See Is What
You Get”
YMMV - “Your Mileage May Vary”
(You may not have the same
luck I did)
YWIA - “You’re Welcome In Advance”
AFK =
away from keyboard
BAK =
back at keyboard
BRB =
be right back
WB =
welcome back
GMTA = great minds think alike
WTG = way to go
RSI =
repetitive strain injury
94 Silicon Chip
Happy
Left Handed/Australian
Sad
Winky
Oh, what a night!
Yelling/Shocked
Frowning
Net Flame
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Sticking Out Tongue
Screaming/Swearing/Very Angry/
About To Be Sick
:*)
Drunk/Clown
:-#
Been Smacked In The Mouth/
Wears A Brace/Kiss R
-)
Broken Glasses
(:-)
Bald
:-)))
Is Very Fat
:-{}
Wears Lipstick
=:-)
A Dickhead
<at>:-) Wears A Turban
$-)
Yuppie/Just Won A Large Sum Of
Money
:,(
Crying :
=)
Two Noses
8:]
Gorilla
8-)
Wears Glasses
B:-)
Wears Sun Glasses On Head
:-T
Keeping A Straight Face/Tight
Lipped
:-y
Said With A Smile
:-|
Disgusted/Grim/No Expression
:~-(
Crying/Shed A Tear
:’-(
Crying
:~(~~ Crying
:-Q
A Smoker
:-!
A Smoker
%-\
Has A Hangover
|-o
Bored
:-X
A Kiss/Lips Are Sealed
(:-D
Has A Big Mouth
(:+)
Has A Big Nose
:-{)
Has A Moustache
:-*
Just Ate Something Sour/Bitter
Taste/Kiss
[:-)
Is Wearing A Walkman
(:-)
Bicycle Helmets
:-)’
Tends To Drool
=:-)
Punk
+-:-) The Pope
O:-)
An Angel
*<:-)> Santa
o-<:-{{{ Santa
*<|:-) Santa/A Clown
5:-)
Elvis Presley
:-%
Banker
:-:
Mutant Smiley
(-:|:-) Siamese Twins
:-)
7:-)
Fred Flinstone
:/7)
Cyrano de Bergerac
C):-O C):-O C):-O C):-O A Barbershop
Quartet
3:-o
A Cow
8:-)
A Pig/A Little Girl
:\/
A Woodpecker
]:->
The Devil
,-)
A One Eyed Winky
|-(
Lost Contact Lenses
#:-)
Matted Hair/Fur Hat/Crewcut/
Messy Hair
&:-)
Curly Hair
C=:-) A Chef
<at>}->— A Rose
=|:-)= Uncle Sam/Abe Lincoln
7:)
Ronald Reagan
+<:-| Monk/Nun
:_)
A Boxer/Had a Fight
{
A Psycho
(:I
An Egghead
b:-)
A Baseball Fan/Has A Cap On
(-)
Needs A Haircut
;-(*)
Feels Sick
*****:-) Marge Simpson
[:]
A Robot
:-[
A Vampire/Count Dracula/Pouting/
Sarcastic
:-F
A Bucktoothed Vampire/Has Major
Dental Problems
:=)
Orangutan/Has Two Noses
:-?
Smokes A Pipe
:-8(
Condescending
8-#
Death/Dead
;^)
Smirking
:——} Liar/Pinnochio
!-(
Black Eye
)
Cheshire Cat
(:-D
Blabber Mouth
>
A Schizo
*#*!^*&:-) phrenic
:-’|
Has A Cold/Flu
:$)
Donald Trump
:-.)
Marilyn Monroe/Madonna
:-) 8
Dolly Parton
:-|:-|
Deja’vu
<*:oDX A Clown
C|:-= Charlie Chaplin
: .)
Cindy Crawford
=)
Adolf Hitler
~:o
A Baby
===:-D Don King
8(:-)
Mickey Mouse/Walt Disney
(|-| F Robocop
3:*>
Rudolph the Reindeer
P-)
A Pirate
%-~
Picasso
‘:-)
Has One Eyebrow
SC
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