Forums & Reddit

◐ Dyingn.✎ 5

Something Awful

A ten-dollar forum from which most of the 2000s internet was released. Its founder died in 2021; the forum is still running, under new ownership and old grievances.

▸ 1999peak 2007still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Skitt's Law

Any post correcting an error will contain at least one error. The Usenet version of Muphry, independently discovered, because the law applies to itself.

▸ 1998peak 2005still up

● Alivev.✎ 3

Grinding

Doing a repetitive task for a reward — the grind — from MMO levelling into work, gym and life vocabulary: 'the grind never stops'. The record's entry for tedium as a virtue, and the parent of grindset.

▸ 1997peak 2012still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Haxor

'Hacker', in leetspeak — 'h4x0r' — as the late-1990s word for a skilled computer user, said with admiration or contempt depending on whether they had just taken your account. The record's entry for the noun that was mostly used by people who were not one.

▸ 1997peak 2002†2008

● Aliven.✎ 3

Incel

'Involuntary celibate' — coined in 1997 by a woman as a support-group name, and taken over by the 2010s' most bitter forums as an identity and, after 2014, a word in the news. The record's entry for the term, its origin, and the distance between the two.

▸ 1997peak 2018still up

● Alivev.✎ 6

Nerf

To weaken something in a patch, from the foam toy. Now used about tax policy by people who have never played anything.

▸ 1997peak 2010still up

◐ Dyingv.✎ 3

Owned

Defeated, humiliated, beaten completely — 'owned' — from hackers taking over a machine to gamers taking over a match to anyone losing an argument. Pwned is the typo; this is the word. The record's entry for the victory that was also a possession.

▸ 1997peak 2005still up

◐ Dyingabbr.✎ 7

AFK

Away from keyboard. Once a real status; now an artefact of a time when leaving the machine was a distinct, announceable event.

▸ 1996peak 2004still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Script Kiddie

A person who uses other people's hacking tools without understanding them — a script kiddie — as the security world's oldest insult, applied since 1996 to anyone running an exploit they did not write. The record's entry for the amateur named by the professional.

▸ 1996peak 2005still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Smurf

An experienced player on a new account, beating beginners — a smurf — named after two Warcraft players in 1996 who used the names to hide. The record's entry for the disguise as a verb, and the reason ranked play has a childhood.

▸ 1996peak 2015still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Bot

An automated account, and, since 2016, the accusation — 'you're a bot' — levelled at anyone who disagrees. The record's entry for the machine that became an insult, and for the fact that calling a person a bot is now the internet's way of ending a conversation with a human.

▸ 1995peak 2018still up

● Alivev.✎ 4

Doxxing

Publishing someone's real name and address. Older than the web and now in the dictionary, which does not help the people it happens to.

▸ 1995peak 2014still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Lag

The delay between doing and seeing — lag — as the oldest excuse in online gaming and, since about 2010, a word for any slowness in a person: 'sorry, I'm lagging'. The record's entry for the network problem that became a personality.

▸ 1995peak 2010still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Chain Email

A message threatening bad luck unless forwarded to ten people. Did not die; it changed hosts.

▸ 1994peak 2001†2010

↺ Undeadn.✎ 2

Webring

Sites linking to each other in a circle, on purpose, with no algorithm involved. Currently living its second life on the strength of that last clause.

▸ 1994peak 1998†2001

◐ Dyingabbr.✎ 4

BRB

Be right back. Fading because nobody is ever away, only slower to reply.

▸ 1993peak 2003still up

▲ Fossiln.✎ 5

Eternal September

The month AOL opened Usenet to everyone and the newcomers never stopped arriving. Thirty-three years later it remains the best metaphor available for any platform's decline.

▸ 1993peak 1995still up

● Aliven.✎ 7

Sock Puppet

A second account pretending to be a stranger who agrees with you. A wooden practice that scaled surprisingly well into an industry.

▸ 1993peak 2008still up

● Aliven.✎ 5

Spam

Unwanted messages in bulk. One of the very few internet words to enter the language, the law, and the statute book, and it came from a sketch about tinned meat.

▸ 1993peak 2004still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Cheese (Gaming)

A cheap, exploitative tactic that works — cheesing a boss, a cheese strategy — as the gamer's word for winning without honour, and the record's entry for the dairy product that means 'I used the wall'.

▸ 1990peak 2010still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Godwin's Law

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a Nazi comparison approaches one. The oldest surviving entry here and still undefeated.

▸ 1990peak 2005still up

◐ Dyingabbr.

IMHO

In my humble opinion, preceding an opinion that was not. The H was contested from the start and the argument has outlived the acronym.

▸ 1990peak 2000still up

● Aliven.✎ 5

Lurker

Someone who reads and never posts. The vast silent majority of every community, and the only rank in this dictionary that most readers hold.

▸ 1990peak 2000still up

◐ Dyingn.

Newbie

A newcomer, before the spelling turned hostile. Now used only by newbies.

▸ 1990peak 1998still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Power User

A user who uses a thing more than it was designed for — a power user — from software into social media, where the power users of Digg and Reddit shaped the front page and were, in Digg's case, its downfall. The record's entry for the enthusiast as an institution.

▸ 1990peak 2012still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 5

Flame War

A public argument that had stopped being about anything. The word is fading only because the thing is now called posting.

▸ 1989peak 1998still up

◐ Dyingabbr.

ROFL

Rolling on the floor laughing, which nobody was. Outlived by its younger sibling and now used mostly by people who also still say LOL aloud.

▸ 1989peak 2004still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Astroturfing

Fake grassroots — a campaign that looks organic and is paid for — astroturfing, named after the artificial grass in 1985 and applied to the internet since the 2000s, where most grassroots are. The record's entry for the lawn that was a carpet.

▸ 1985peak 2010still up

▲ Fossiln.✎ 2

Lamer

A person who is not skilled, not cool, and not welcome — a lamer — as the BBS era's word for it, which preceded 'noob' by a decade and was used by the cracking and demo scene to mean 'not one of us'. The record's entry for the insult of the modem age.

▸ 1985peak 1995†2003

● Aliven.✎ 2

Shill

A person paid to praise something as if they were not — a shill — from carnival slang into every comment section, where anyone who likes a product is accused of being one. The record's entry for the century-old word that the internet needed and the crypto boom wore out.

▸ 1916peak 2016still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 3

Camp

Exaggerated, theatrical, knowingly too much — camp — a century-old word from queer culture that the internet rediscovered in 2019 when a fashion gala made it a theme and everyone argued about what it meant. The record's entry for the oldest word in the file that is still being defined.

▸ 1909peak 2019still up