AN INTERNET JARGON HANDBOOK
access provider
If you want to use the Internet, and you don’t have free access at work or at school, you will need to pay someone—either a company such as America Online, Prodigy, or CompuServe, or one of the smaller, local access providers—to give you an account. Then you can access the Net through their big machines.
account
This is what you get from an access provider. In the case of commercial providers, it allows them to keep track of how many hours you spend logged on. It also allows an access provider to keep track of who you are.
address
In order to receive E-mail, you need an electronic address, something along the lines of yourname@accessprovider.com or president@whitehouse.gov.
Archie
A funny-looking redheaded guy in a comic book, but also a sophisticated search tool that will allow you to find files anywhere on the Internet by entering a key word. Once you locate the file, you will probably use ftp (see below) to retrieve it.
ARPANET
The Internet’s grandfather, started in 1969, and named for ARPA, the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Project Agency.
auto-responder
A form of “bot,” or robot computer program. If you send electronic mail to certain addresses, whitehouse.gov for instance, your message is automatically answered by a computer. The answer is just an electronic form letter, and your mail may or may not eventually reach human eyes.
BBS
Short for “bulletin board system,” a computer-based mechanism that allows people to read other people’s messages on their computers, and then post responses. No thumbtacks needed.
binary
A file that contains information other than just text. It is usually a program or a picture of some sort. Watch your kids closely.
bounce
Depending on your access provider’s software, it might be possible to adjust your settings so that incoming E-mail from certain outside addresses simply bounces off your mailbox. If someone has been repeatedly trying to sell you Herbal Weight Loss Remedies, for instance, this can be very helpful.
byte
Computer storage capacity—the amount of space your computer has to hold information—is measured in bytes. In the Net world, the more bytes you can handle, the bigger the dog you are.
cancel-bot
In response to spamming (see below), sophisticated programs called cancel-bots have been developed to robotically cancel certain messages from Usenet newsgroups. Since no one is officially in charge of Usenet, cancel-bot operators tend to be self-appointed, and many people object to their tactics. Others, having been offered an Herbal Weight Loss Remedy for the nineteenth time in two weeks, just say, “Thank you very kindly, cancel-bot.”
channel
If you enter a Chat program, you will need to choose a channel. You can then chat with the other people who have also chosen that channel, assuming you have something to say to a total stranger.
Chat
The Internet and many of the larger commercial access providers offer Chat areas, also called forums, where people can converse on-line in real time. This means that your typed messages appear on the screens of other users only moments after you type them in.
coding
Another term for programming—the act of writing logical instructions coded into computer language.
command-line interface
When you turn on your computer or dial into your Internet access provider, a command-line interface is what you see on your screen. It will often look like this:
>
or this:
=====>
And you will need to type in a command (such as “Menu”). The alternative to a command-line interface is the “friendlier” Graphic User Interface (see below).
crossposting
On Usenet, crossposting is the act of sending your article or message to two or more of the ten thousand different subject discussion newsgroups. Crossposting to more than one or two topic areas, especially if the relevance of your message is not clear, is considered rude. Crossposting to fifty or more groups tends to fire up the cancel-botters.
cybersex
Sex without touching, sex without seeing, sex with very little sensory input other than the clicking of hard plastic keys. Some people love it.
cyberspace
A term coined by author William Gibson in his sci-fi novel Neuromancer. People on the Internet argue all the time about what it means, or whether it means anything at all, but generally it refers to the geographically nonexistent space where computer-aided communication takes place.
download
Retrieving a file by yanking it from another computer “down” to your computer (see upload).
electronic mail (E-mail)
Messages sent from one individual across the Internet to another specific individual or group of individuals.
emoticon
Typed messages can be cold and sterile, so people have begun to attach little sideways smiley faces, like this :-) to indicate that they are being good humored, or winking faces ;-) to indicate that they are just joshing, or maybe this face #:*( to indicate a bad haircut and nasal congestion.
encryption
A type of software that will automatically transform electronic messages into coded messages, so other people can’t read them. The intended recipient needs to use a software “key” to decode the message.
FAQ
Short for “frequently asked questions.” You will find a FAQ file posted on many of the more active Usenet newsgroups, and before broadcasting your beginning questions across the group, you should probably read this first to see if your question has already been answered.
Fidonet
A worldwide network of bulletin board systems.
flame
Nasty, often obscene, messages traded by E-mail or Usenet posting. Some people flame others when they disagree with them, while others do it for fun. It is hard, though, for even the best of flames, aimed in your direction, to hurt much more than your feelings.
flame war
Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah. Occurs when some people on Usenet just get childish and flame back and forth until everyone gets bored and begs them to stop.
freenet
Certain localities, Cleveland for instance, offer free on-line access for residents. Usually, though, you can’t do as much on these services as you can on those for which you have to pay a monthly fee.
ftp
This means file transfer protocol, the way in which files are transferred from one computer to another. If you need information on some subject, and relevant articles are housed on a computer in Finland, you can ftp to that computer and retrieve them.
GIF
Short for Graphics Interchange Format, it is exactly that, a format by which to exchange graphic (i.e., picture) files.
gigabyte
Lots and lots of bytes (1,073,741,824, to be exact).
Gopher
An extremely useful area of the Internet that lets you find a wide range of information by browsing menus and then reading data files with no more effort than hitting the enter button on your keyboard.
graphics
Pictures, charts, maps. Beyond words.
GUI
Short for Graphic User Interface. On America Online, for instance, you will see pictures on your computer screen and can then point your mouse at those pictures to execute various commands. This is much easier for most people than remembering and typing in the proper sequence of words or letters, but it can slow down a system as well.
hacker
In the old days, there was always a guy who couldn’t stop fiddling with his ‘57 Chevy. Nowadays, there are people (but still mostly guys) who can’t stop fiddling with their computers, their software, their phone lines, and they can do some amazing stuff.
homepage
On the World Wide Web, users set up what is called a home page, and by accessing that home page you can find out lots of neat stuff about the user, and then use hypertext links to jump to other related Web sites.
host computer
Most individual users can’t connect directly to the Internet. Instead, they connect to a host (a college computer, a commercial provider such as CompuServe, a local access provider), and that host is their gateway to the greater Net.
hypertext
It looks like writing, but when you point to certain words with your computer mouse, amazing things happen. Not unlike a secret passage hidden in a Victorian library.
Information Superhighway
Everyone really in the know knows there really is no such thing. But it sounds big and exciting and like something the government should pour lots of dollars into, so the metaphor survives.
Internet
A network is two or more computers linked together. The Internet is made up of thousands of these networks, all networked together, to create one gigantic international Network of Networks. It is the closest thing to an Information Superhighway that we have today.
IRC
Internet Relay Chat, the Internet’s chat zone, and a popular hangout for bored college kids.
Jughead
Yet another search tool that allows you to do keyword searches within Gopherspace. See also: Archie, Veronica, Mr. Weatherbee.
listserver (or LISTSERV)
Automated programs that manage mailing lists. Mailing lists are much like Usenet newsgroups, only the individual articles are E-mailed directly to a subscriber’s mailbox.
logon
When you connect your computer to a BBS or an access provider, you will usually need to type in your username and password. This is known as logging on. (Note to Star Trek fans: this really has nothing to do with William Shatner’s Captain’s Log, but you can certainly pretend.)
lurking
If you read the messages in a Usenet newsgroup but don’t immediately add your own two cents worth, you have more self-control than I have, and you are what Internet types call a lurker. If eventually you decide to participate in the discussion, you are de-lurking. Some people lurk both ways.
mainframe
A big computer, many times more powerful than the one in your family room.
mailing lists
See listserver.
megabyte
Not as much as a gigabyte, but still a lot of bytes (1,048,576 actually).
modem
A piece of equipment you buy from a computer store, without which your computer can’t call other computers and chat on the phone. Be a sport! Let your computer have a social life.
MOO
This is what cows say when you ask them, “Do you have Email?” It is also an acronym for MUD-Object-Oriented, which is a type of interactive computer game.
mouse
It sits alongside your computer on a mouse pad, and you move it around to move the arrow on your screen. Kids love them, typists hate them, and they are rapidly becoming indispensable.
MUD
Multi-User Dungeon, another type of on-line computer game, with roots in the old Dungeons & Dragons subculture. A MUD is more violent than a MUSH, and you may need hip-boots. (See also MOO.)
MUSH
Yet another interactive game, and an acronym for Multi-User Shared Hallucination. When I was in college, those words meant something else, but I never inhaled.
Net
There is the Internet, and then there are services such as America Online, Delphi, and CompuServe that might be linked to the Internet but are actually separate networks, and there is Usenet, Fidonet, and the various BBSs, and everyone will jump on your back if you use one of these terms incorrectly. So just say Net.
netiquette
Proper Net etiquette. Don’t ask questions that are in the FAQ, don’t SHOUT, don’t quote personal E-mail without permission, and whatever you do, don’t stick bubblegum under the virtual chairs.
newbie
Often preceded by the word “clueless,” a newbie is a newcomer who hasn’t learned Net rules or Net terminology. But we are all newbies at one time or another, and they should be welcomed.
newsgroup
Within Usenet, there are ten thousand newsgroups, divided by topic area. Check news.announce.newgroups for an up-to-date listing.
off-line
The opposite of on-line, of course. With certain software, you can retrieve your E-mail messages or collect a series of newsgroup articles on-line, then go off-line to read them and compose your responses. This is an efficient way to cut costs if your access provider charges by the hour.
on-line
Linked up, connected. When your modem dials into your access provider, and the connection is made, you are on-line. Being on-line is much cooler than not being on-line—just ask Al Gore or Newt Gingrich.
on-line service
Another name for access provider.
post
When you send your message (sometimes called an article) to Usenet, you are posting. Posting is the electronic equivalent of stapling your garage sale notice to a telephone pole.
queue
When someone sends you E-mail, it waits in your mailbox, in what is called a queue, until you come on-line and check your incoming mail.
real time
As opposed to virtual, or computer time, real time refers to the “now” of human time. When you’re trading messages in real time, it’s like you’re on the telephone, or a two-way radio.
RL
Short for “real life.” Some people find that they enjoy computer interaction so much, they forget to go outside. They never see real people. They get very glassy in the eyes. They need to be reminded about RL.
slip or PPP
A bit technical, but suffice it to say that this type of connection allows your computer to link directly into the Internet instead of merely piggybacking on some big host computer’s Internet link.
smiley
See emoticon. Or don’t, see if I care.:-)
spam
A message that is repeated and repeated and repeated to numerous Usenet newsgroups. The name comes from an old Monty Python routine, the one in the restaurant where someone orders, “Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, and eggs.”
spoof mail
An electronic wolf in sheep’s clothing. Mail that doesn’t really come from the indicated source.
system administrator
For most every access provider, educational site, or industry site, there is someone in charge. If you have a problem or complaint, find this person.
telnet
A program that lets you log on to other computers from afar. MOOs, MUDs, and MUSHes run this way.
threads
Within Usenet, certain topics can be discussed for weeks, or months. Such a topic is known as a thread.
UNIX
A computer operating system prevalent on the Internet. Crude but powerful.
upload
Taking a file that resides on your home or office computer and transmitting it to someone else’s computer (see download).
Usenet
The Internet bulletin board system where you will find ten thousand newsgroups, one on each and every subject imaginable.
Veronica
Like Archie, another program with which to hunt down information within Gopher.
virtual
A buzzword that may or may not mean anything. Basically, if something exists in real life, if you can touch it, if it gets wet during a heavy rainstorm, it is real. If this something only exists in a computer somewhere, if it only happens on-line, it is probably virtual.
Virtual Community
People who know one another primarily through writing messages back and forth by computer, rather than by actually having met. Howard Rheingold wrote the book on this subject, The Virtual Community.
World Wide Web (WWW)
The newest thing, a hypertext system that lets you jump from document to document, with color and pictures. Very flashy, very cool, often very slow, and not all machines can run it, but for the moment, having Web access is an essential component of being totally hip. The only thing better is webbed feet.