General Definitions
Learn what General words mean and how to use them
SPAM
A term for unsolicited email sent out in mass quanities that is
often commercial.
Forum
This is a term for a bulletin board online where people can
post messages on a variety of subtopics which relate to certain
specific topics.
Newsgroup
This is a term for a type of bulletin board online popular in the
past in which people could post messages through email on a variety
of specific topics. Newsgroups were also known as usenet. Newsgroups
were limited in that not all ISP's allowed their customers to post
to all newsgroups. Later as the world wide web took hold postings
occured often via dejanews which allowed anyone to post to any newgroup
through their servers and not through email. Newsgroups are now
archived and can be posted to via Google groups which was created
when Google acquired the newsgroup assets from Deja.
Usenet
Another term for newsgroups
IRC
An acronym for Internet Relay Chat which is a popular way of chatting
and organizing online which is done via a special browser such as
Mirc or Pirch. IRC is a popular download means and has been around
far longer than the peer to peer solutions and Napster like methods.
IRC is a haven for illegal information and data of all sorts. Webservers
that host IRC servers are also victims of attack often from members
of the IRC community for various reasons.
Netsplit
Term for a unique event in which one Irc server is cut off from
its related Irc Network isolating everyone that connected to that
lone Irc Server that split off from the rest. If for example one
connects to an Irc server in Charlotte, NC in the US and it is experiencing
a netsplit then those who connected to that server would be unreachable
to the rest of the members of that Irc Network. In effect it could
be said that the Charlotte was lost due to a netsplit.
Ghost
Term for what happens sometimes when an Irc user disconnects and
relogs on to an Irc Network and it appears that they through their
previous connection and nickname are still there. The nickname that
can not respond is a ghost.
Warbot
Term for a malicious Irc software script that is designed to go
around banning people from chat rooms or otherwise limiting users
experiences.
K-lined,
G-lined
These are terms for a type of ban from Irc that is instituted on
an Ip or ISP level due to extreme abuse. To keep those who are dangerous
away all of those who fall in their Ip range or use their ISP are
also banned.
Kicked
To be removed from a given chatroom or Irc Channel but be able to
go back in. The kicking is done to make an example of someone and
to deter their conduct before having to banning them.
Banned
On Irc this is to be barred from participation in a given chat room
or channel.
Flooding
This is a term for sending out lots of text very fast in an Irc
Channel. In effect through flooding you shut down the channel by
making it difficult for real people's words to get through. Some
people who type fast are also banned sometimes for flooding including
myself.
Troll
Term for a message board or chat room poster that posts commercial
information or contentless posts that just wastes everyone's time.
Sniping
This is a term used in regards to online auctions it means to wait
until the last possible minute in an auction to bid. In an ebay
auction for example many people will bid one price but will reconsider
if outbid and bid again if given the chance, if you bid high at
the last possible moment through sniping they can not bid again
Default Home
Page
Term for the website url set up as the one that opens automatically
when your internet browser is opened. By default Internet Explorer
sets MSN.com as the default home page for internet explorer users
unless you change it. Many popups try to trick novice internet users
into allowing their default home pages to be changed to some ad
oriented homepage.
P2P
Acronym for peer to peer which is a way that internet users can
exchange data between themselves. Peer to Peer systems are commonly
used to trade music through things like Kazaa and Napster in the
past.
ASCII
This term refers to a standard text format. For example ASCII artwork
would be artwork created by using text characters alone.
Attachment
This is a file that is sent along with an email message. An attachment
can be a picture, a compressed Zip file containing images or other
things, or a virus.
Broadband
Term for high speed internet either from Satelite, Cable, or ADSL.
Broadband is generally 40 to 200K a second or more.
Dial up
This is a connection to the internet established by connecting to
the internet via a phone line.
404 Error
This is a term for a dead webpage on a website. If the whole server
or site itself is down there will be no 404 error.
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