Differences between current version and revision by previous author of Luser.
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| Newer page: | version 5 | Last edited on Saturday, July 16, 2005 9:36:06 am | by AristotlePagaltzis | |
| Older page: | version 3 | Last edited on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 12:13:20 pm | by StuartYeates | Revert |
@@ -1,12 +1,25 @@
-From the [jargon file|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/
]:
+From the [jargon file | JargonFile
:luser
]:
-;:
__luser__ /loo'zr/ n.
+
__luser__ /loo'zr/ n.
-;: [
[common] A [user|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
user.html
]; esp. one who is also a [loser|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
loser.html
]. ([luser|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
luser.html
] and [loser|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
loser.html
] are pronounced identically.) This word was coined around 1975 at [MIT]. Under ITS, when you first walked up to a terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z to get the computer's attention, it printed out some status information, including how many people were already using the computer; it might print "14 users", for example. Someone thought it would be a great joke to patch the system to print "14 losers" instead. There ensued a great controversy, as some of the users didn't particularly want to be called losers to their faces every time they used the computer. For a while several hackers struggled covertly, each changing the message behind the back of the others; any time you logged into the computer it was even money whether it would say "users" or "losers". Finally, someone tried the compromise "lusers", and it stuck. Later one of the ITS machines supported luser as a request-for-help command. ITS died the death in mid-1990, except as a museum piece; the usage lives on, however, and the term `luser' is often seen in program comments and on [UseNet].
+ ~
[common] A [user | JargonFile
:user]; esp. one who is also a [loser | JargonFile
:loser].
+
([luser | JargonFile
:luser] and [loser | JargonFile
:loser] are pronounced identically.)
+
This word was coined around 1975 at [MIT]. Under ITS, when you first walked up to a
+
terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z to get the computer's attention, it printed out some
+
status information, including how many people were already using the computer; it might
+
print "14 users", for example. Someone thought it would be a great joke to patch the system
+
to print "14 losers" instead. There ensued a great controversy, as some of the users didn't
+
particularly want to be called losers to their faces every time they used the computer. For
+
a while several hackers struggled covertly, each changing the message behind the back of
+
the others; any time you logged into the computer it was even money whether it would say
+
"users" or "losers". Finally, someone tried the compromise "lusers", and it stuck. Later
+
one of the ITS machines supported luser as a request-for-help command. ITS died the death
+
in mid-1990, except as a museum piece; the usage lives on, however, and the term `luser' is
+
often seen in program comments and on [UseNet].
-;:
Compare [mundane|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
mundane.html
], [muggle|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
muggle.html
], [newbie|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
newbie.html
], [chainik|http
://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/
chainik.html
].
+
Compare [mundane | JargonFile
:mundane], [muggle | JargonFile
:muggle],
+
[newbie | JargonFile
:newbie], [chainik | JargonFile
:chainik].
-----
-note
popular history of irc
suggests (independantly?
) calling users '
lusers' because internally the irc daemon had
an extra 'luser' struct
for local users which held information about directly connected
users (
as opposed to users that are connected
to remote servers and don
't
have things
like a ping time or a socket handle)
.
-----
-The existance of [Luser]s interacts with the [
NetworkEffect]
.
+Note that
popular history of [IRC]
suggests (possibly independently
) calling users "
lusers",
an abbreviation
for "
local users". An [IRC] network may consist of many interconnected servers; each of them has its local
users, ie those who are connected directly to the server in question
as opposed to those who participate by connection
to another server. A server
's "lusers"
have additional information associated with,
like a socket handle,
a ping time etc
.
+
+The existance of [Luser]s interacts with the NetworkEffect.
