pseudo /soo'doh/ n.
[Usenet: truncation of `pseudonym']
1. An electronic-mail or Usenet persona adopted by a human for
amusement value or as a means of avoiding negative repercussions of
one's net.behavior; a `nom de Usenet', often associated with
forged postings designed to conceal message origins. Perhaps the
best-known and funniest hoax of this type is B1FF. See also
tentacle. 2. Notionally, a flamage-generating AI program
simulating a Usenet user. Many flamers have been accused of
actually being such entities, despite the fact that no AI program
of the required sophistication yet exists. However, in 1989 there
was a famous series of forged postings that used a
phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of
several well-known flamers; it was based on large samples of their
back postings (compare Dissociated Press). A significant
number of people were fooled by the forgeries, and the debate over
their authenticity was settled only when the perpetrator came
forward to publicly admit the hoax.
[Usenet: truncation of `pseudonym']
1. An electronic-mail or Usenet persona adopted by a human for
amusement value or as a means of avoiding negative repercussions of
one's net.behavior; a `nom de Usenet', often associated with
forged postings designed to conceal message origins. Perhaps the
best-known and funniest hoax of this type is B1FF. See also
tentacle. 2. Notionally, a flamage-generating AI program
simulating a Usenet user. Many flamers have been accused of
actually being such entities, despite the fact that no AI program
of the required sophistication yet exists. However, in 1989 there
was a famous series of forged postings that used a
phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of
several well-known flamers; it was based on large samples of their
back postings (compare Dissociated Press). A significant
number of people were fooled by the forgeries, and the debate over
their authenticity was settled only when the perpetrator came
forward to publicly admit the hoax.
Related:
- pseudo: /soo'doh/ [USENET: truncation of `pseudonym'] n
1. An electronic-mail or {USENET} persona adopted... - kremvax /krem-vaks/ n.
[from the then large number of
Usenet VAXen with names of the form foovax]
Originally
a fictitious Usenet site at the Kremlin, announced... - flamage: /flay'm*j/ n. Flaming verbiage, esp. high-noise
low-signal postings to {USENET} or other electronic... - flamage /flay'm*j/ n.
[very common] Flaming verbiage
esp. high-noise, low-signal postings to Usenet or other... - newsgroup: [USENET] n. One of {USENET}'s huge collection of
topic groups or {fora}
Usenet groups can be `unmoderated' (anyone can post)... - ken: /ken/ n. 1. [UNIX] Ken Thompson, principal inventor of
UNIX
In the early days he used to hand-cut distribution... - doubled sig [Usenet] n.
A sig block that has been
included twice in a Usenet article or
less commonly, in an electronic mail message. An... - Dissociated Press n.
[play on `Associated Press'
perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1950 Bugs... - spam vt.,vi.,n.
[from "Monty Python's Flying
Circus"] 1
To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer...
