newbie

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newbie

/n[y]oo'bee/ (Originally from British public-school and military slang variant of "new boy") An inexperienced user of Usenet or other system.

This term surfaced in the newsgroup news:talk.bizarre but is now in wide use. Criteria for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie in one newsgroup while remaining a respected regular in another. The label "newbie" is sometimes applied as a serious insult to a person who has been around Usenet for a long time but who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue.

See BIFF.

[Jargon File]

(1998-02-18)