user n. Someone who uses a computer system. Within the conventional client/server paradigm there are two classes of people: those who administrate the system and those who use it. 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".