Monday, March 5, 2001		Bits & Bytes

Log on/Log in: Connect to a host system or public access site.

Log off: Disconnects to a host system or public-access site

Mailing list: Essentially a conference in which messages are delivered right to your mailbox, instead of to a Usenet newsgroup. You get on these by sending a message to a specific e-mail address, which is often that of a computer that automates the process.

Net.personality: Somebody sufficiently opinionated/flaky/with plenty of time on his hands to regularly post in dozens of differently Usenet newsgroups, whose presence is known to thousands of persons.

Net.police: Derogatory term for those who would impose their standards on other users of the Net. Often used in vigorous flame wars (in which it occasionally mutates to net.nazis)

Netiquette: A set of common-sense guidelines for not annoying others.

Network: A communications system that links two or more computers. It can be as simple as a cable strung between two computers a few feet apart or as complex as hundreds of thousands of computers around the world linked through fibre optics cable, phone lines and satellites.

Newbie: Somebody new to the Net. Sometimes used derogatorily by net.veterans who have forgotten that, they, too, were once newbies who did not innately know the answer to everything. "Clueless newbie" is always derogatory.