General tidying and updating of stuff. Removal of bizarre or inaccurate descriptions

entries/holy wars.txt

@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ n. [from Usenet , but may predate it; common] n. flame wars over religious
 issues. The paper by Danny Cohen that popularized the terms big-endian and
 little-endian in connection with the LSB-first/MSB-first controversy was
 entitled On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace. Great holy wars of the past have
-included ITS vs Unix , Unix vs VMS , BSD Unix vs System V, C vs Rust,
+included ITS vs Unix, Unix vs VMS, BSD Unix vs System V, C vs Rust,
-Python vs Perl, init vs systemd, etc.
+Python vs Perl, init vs systemd, vim vs Emacs, etc.
 
 The characteristic that distinguishes holy wars from normal technical
 disputes is that in a holy war most of the participants spend their time

entries/muggle.txt

@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 muggle
 
-A non- wizard. Not as disparaging as luser ; implies vague pity rather than
+A non- wizard. Implies vague pity rather than contempt. In the universe
-contempt. In the universe of Rowling's popular children's series, muggles
+of Rowling's popular children's series, muggles and wizards inhabit the
-and wizards inhabit the same modern world, but each group is ignorant of
+same modern world, but each group is ignorant of the commonplaces of
-the commonplaces of the others' existence most muggles are unaware that
+the others' existence most muggles are unaware that wizards exist,
-wizards exist, and wizards (used to magical ways of doing everything) are
+and wizards (used to magical ways of doing everything) are perplexed
-perplexed and fascinated by muggle artifacts. In retrospect it seems
+and fascinated by muggle artifacts. In retrospect it seems completely
-completely inevitable that hackers would adopt this metaphor, and in hacker
+inevitable that hackers would adopt this metaphor, and in hacker
-usage it readily forms compounds such as muggle-friendly. Compare luser,
+usage it readily forms compounds such as muggle-friendly. Compare
-mundane, chainik, newbie.
+mundane, chainik, newbie, wannabe.

entries/naive user.txt

@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
 naive user
 
-n. A luser. Tends to imply someone who is ignorant mainly owing to
+n. Tends to imply someone who is ignorant mainly owing to inexperience.
-inexperience. When this is applied to someone who has experience, there is a
-definite implication of stupidity.
-

entries/newbie.txt

@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 newbie
 
-/n[y]oobee/ , n. [very common; orig. from British public-school and military
+/n[y]oobee/ , n. A new user of some system. This term surfaced in the
-slang variant of new boy ] A Usenet neophyte. This term surfaced in the
+Usenet newsgroup talk.bizarre but is now in wide use (the combination clueless
-newsgroup talk.bizarre but is now in wide use (the combination clueless
 newbie is especially common). 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 B1FF ; see also
+who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue. See B1FF; see also
-gnubie. Compare chainik , luser.
+gnubie. Compare chainik.
-

entries/padded cell.txt

@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 padded cell
 
-n. Where you put lusers so they can't hurt anything. A program that limits
+Also known as jailware. Proprietary software is often a padded cell.
-a luser to a carefully restricted subset of the capabilities of the host
+A padded cell may be nice in appearance. It may have attractive features
-system (for example, the rsh (1) utility on USG Unix). Note that this is
+and some convenience factor, but it still robs the user of essential
-different from an iron box because it is overt and not aimed at enforcing
+freedoms. Much Apple software is like this. High on bling, low on freedom.
-security so much as protecting others (and the luser) from the consequences
-of the luser's boundless naivete (see naive ). Also padded cell environment.

entries/read-only user.txt

@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 read-only user
 
-n. Describes a luser who uses computers almost exclusively for reading
+Someone who operates in consumer mode only. They never create anything,
-Usenet, bulletin boards, and/or email, rather than writing code or purveying
+only "consume" content. See twink, terminal junkie, lurker.
-useful information. See twink , terminal junkie , lurker.
-

entries/real user.txt

@@ -5,5 +5,4 @@ usage. 2. A non-hacker. Someone using the system for an explicit purpose (a
 research project, a course, etc.) other than pure exploration. See user.
 Hackers who are also students may also be real users. I need this fixed so I
 can do a problem set. I'm not complaining out of randomness, but as a real
-user. See also luser.
+user.
-

entries/room-temperature IQ.txt

@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-room-temperature IQ
-
-quant. [IBM] 80 or below (nominal room temperature is 72 degrees Fahrenheit,
-22 degrees Celsius). Used in describing the expected intelligence range of
-the luser. Well, but how's this interface going to play with the
-room-temperature IQ crowd? See drool-proof paper. This is a much more
-insulting phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers.
-

entries/spam.txt

@@ -21,9 +21,5 @@ no, spam. The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the
 Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses 3 4 and 5
 are now primary. All three behaviors are considered abuse of the net, and
 are almost universally grounds for termination of the originator's email
-account or network connection. In these senses the term spam has gone
+account or network connection. Hormel, the makers of Spam, published a
-mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric freight there is
+surprisingly enlightened position statement on the Internet usage.
-apparently a widespread myth among lusers that spamming is what happens
-when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan. Hormel, the makers of Spam,
-have published a surprisingly enlightened position statement on the Internet
-usage.

entries/theory.txt

@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ theory
 n. The consensus, idea, plan, story, or set of rules that is currently being
 used to inform a behavior. This usage is a generalization and (deliberate)
 abuse of the technical meaning. What's the theory on fixing this TECO loss?
-What's the theory on dinner tonight? ( Chinatown, I guess. ) What's the
+What's the theory on dinner tonight? (Chinatown, I guess.) What's the
-current theory on letting lusers on during the day? The theory behind this
+current theory on letting users loose on this new feature? The theory behind
-change is to fix the following well-known screw....
+this change is to fix the following well-known screw.
-

entries/tourist.txt

@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 tourist
 
 n. 1. [ITS] A guest on the system, especially one who generally logs in over
-a network from a remote location for comm mode , email, games, and other
+a network from a remote location for comm mode, email, games, and other
-trivial purposes. One step below luser. ITS hackers often used to spell this
+common purposes. ITS hackers often used to spell this turist, perhaps by
-turist , perhaps by some sort of tenuous analogy with luser (this usage may
+some sort of tenuous analogy with user (this usage may also have expressed
-also have expressed the ITS culture's penchant for six-letterisms, and/or
+the ITS culture's penchant for six-letterisms, and/or been some sort of
-been some sort of tribute to Alan Turing). Compare twink , lurker ,
+tribute to Alan Turing). Compare twink, lurker, read-only user. 2. [IRC]
-read-only user. 2. [IRC] An IRC user who goes from channel to channel
+A chat system user who goes from channel to channel without saying anything;
-without saying anything; see channel hopping.
+see channel hopping.
-

entries/turist.txt

@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 turist
 
 /toorist/ , n. Var. sp. of tourist , q.v. Also in adjectival form, turistic.
-Poss. influenced by luser and Turing.
+Poss. influenced by user and Turing.
-

entries/user.txt

@@ -1,23 +1,12 @@
 user
 
-n. 1. Someone doing real work with the computer, using it as a means rather
+n. Someone who uses a computer system. Within the conventional
-than an end. Someone who pays to use a computer. See real user. 2. A
+client/server paradigm there are two classes of people: those who
-programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who asks silly
+administrate the system and those who use it.
-questions. [GLS observes: This is slightly unfair. It is true that users ask
-questions (of necessity). Sometimes they are thoughtful or deep. Very often
-they are annoying or downright stupid, apparently because the user failed to
-think for two seconds or look in the documentation before bothering the
-maintainer.] See luser. 3. Someone who uses a program from the outside,
-however skillfully, without getting into the internals of the program. One
-who reports bugs instead of just going ahead and fixing them. The general
-theory behind this term is that there are two classes of people who work
-with a program: there are implementors (hackers) and luser s. The users are
-looked down on by hackers to some extent because they don't understand the
-full ramifications of the system in all its glory. (The few users who do are
-known as real winners. ) The term is a relative one: a skilled hacker may be
-a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker
-might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of
-a hacker). A LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus
-there is some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be
-resolved by context.
 
+The term user is very conventional, going back to the early days
+of time-sharing mainframes, but may be controversial in some contexts
+due to having other negative associations, such as "drug user" or
+someone who exploits other people for cynical and self-serving reasons,
+as in "he was just a user". A possible alternative to user is
+"member".

entries/virus.txt

@@ -19,7 +19,5 @@ the operating system (Unix machines, by contrast, are immune to such
 attacks). The production of special anti-virus software has become an
 industry, and a number of exaggerated media reports have caused outbreaks of
 near hysteria among users; many lusers tend to blame everything that
-doesn't work as they had expected on virus attacks. Accordingly, this sense
+doesn't work as they had expected on virus attacks.
-of virus has passed not only into techspeak but into also popular usage
+See phage; compare back door; see also Unix conspiracy.
-(where it is often incorrectly used to denote a worm or even a Trojan horse
-). See phage ; compare back door ; see also Unix conspiracy.

entries/womble.txt

@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-womble
-
-n. [Unisys UK: from British puppet-show characters] A user who has great
-difficulty in communicating their requirements and/or in using the resulting
-software. Extreme case of luser. An especially senior or high-ranking womble
-is referred to as Great-Uncle Bulgaria. Compare Aunt Tillie.
-