newbie /n[y]oo'bee/ n.
[verry common; orig. from British public-school and military
slang variant of `new boy'] A Usenet neophyte. This term surfaced
in the newsgroup
_talk.bizarre_ but is now in wide use (the combination
"clueless newbie" is especially common). Criteria for being
considered a newbie vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie
in one newsgroup while remaining a respected regular in another.
The label `newbie' is sometimes applied as a serious insult to a
person who has been around Usenet for a long time but who
carefully hides all evidence of having a clue. See B1FF; see also gnubie.
Node:newgroup wars, Next:newline, Previous:newbie, Up:=
N =
newgroup wars /n[y]oo'groop worz/ n.
[Usenet] The salvos of dueling newgroup and
rmgroup messages sometimes exchanged by persons on
opposite sides of a dispute over whether a newsgroup should be created net-wide, or
(even more frequently) whether an obsolete one should be removed.
These usually settle out within a week or two as it becomes clear
whether the group has a natural constituency (usually, it
doesn't). At times, especially in the completely anarchic
_alt_ hierarchy, the names of newsgroups themselves become a
form of comment or humor; e.g., the group
_alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork_ which originated as a
birthday joke for a Muppets fan, or any number of specialized
abuse groups named after particularly notorious flamers, e.g., _alt.weemba_.