NetLingo Word of the Day

meltdown

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Taking its name from the catastrophic failure of a nuclear reactor, it is an event that causes the shutdown of a network. It usually results from illegal or misrouted packets that force multiple hosts to respond at once, thereby shutting it down. A meltdown typically lasts only a short time. It is the network equivalent of "thrashing" (as in "to tear up a room") and may be induced by a Chernobyl packet.

permalink

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A URL that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives. Because a permalink remains unchanged indefinitely, it is less susceptible to link rot. Most modern blogging and content-syndication software systems support such links. Other types of websites use the term permanent links, but the term permalink is most common within the blogosphere.

metoobies

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Participants in online conferences and chats who seem incapable of posting anything other than "Me too!", "Ditto", "What she said", et cetera.

rollover

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A technique when using JavaScript, allows for an alternate image to be displayed when the mouse rolls over a specific line of text or graphic on the Web page. The "rollover" typically displays a copyright notice on top of the image. If the user attempts to capture the image using the right click "save image as" option, the alternate image (such as the copyright) is captured instead. The term rollover was created to recognize that there is a little ball in your mouse that you roll on a surface.

extremophile

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Slang for an organism that can live in conditions of heat, radiation, or toxicity normally considered inhospitable to life.

cyberluddites

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Net users who are against the World Wide Web and Net commercialism and want it to return to all text-based communications.

blackholing

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

When an ISP or other online service automatically deletes all e-mail coming from a certain domain without delivering it. For example, "Sites have been blackholing all Well email, legitimate or not, because of the quantity of Well-relayed spam deluging their servers."

trap car

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Slang for a drug dealer's car that's been retrofitted with James Bond-style auto hacks such as elaborate hidden compartments, gun stashes, booby traps, and rear halogen lights to blind pursuing law enforcement.

whittling

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The name given to a revolutionary new medical technique which surgically alters a patient's thumbs to better use handheld devices. Case in point: A Colorado man (who is considered a big guy) had a hard time using the features on ever-shrinking user interfaces like his iPhone, that is until he "whittled" his thumbs down.

Doctors explain that this is turning plastic surgery from something people use in service of vanity, to a real tool for improving workplace efficiency. The procedure involves making a small incision into both thumbs and shaving down the bones, followed by careful muscular alteration and modification of the fingernails (see also: fat finger).

smut miner

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Someone who endlessly downloads and decodes porno pictures from adult newsgroups.