sig quote /sig kwoht/ n.
[Usenet] A maxim, quote, proverb, joke, or slogan embedded in
one's sig block and intended to
convey something of one's philosophical stance, pet peeves, or
sense of humor. "Calm down, it's only ones and zeroes."
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sig virus n.
A parasitic meme embedded in a
sig block. There was a meme plague or fad for these on
Usenet in late 1991. Most were equivalents of "I am a .sig virus.
Please reproduce me in your .sig block.". Of course, the .sig
virus's memetic hook is the giggle value of going along with the
gag; this, however, was a self-limiting phenomenon as more and
more people picked up on the idea. There were creative variants
on it; some people stuck `sig virus antibody' texts in their
sigs, and there was at least one instance of a sig virus
eater.
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signal-to-noise ratio [from analog electronics] n.
Used by hackers in a generalization of its technical meaning.
`Signal' refers to useful information conveyed by some
communications medium, and `noise' to anything else on that
medium. Hence a low ratio implies that it is not worth paying
attention to the medium in question. Figures for such
metaphorical ratios are never given. The term is most often
applied to Usenet newsgroups during
flame wars. Compare bandwidth. See also coefficient of X, lost in the noise.