The Net Abuse Jargon File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Andrew Nellis bs904@freenet.carleton.ca This list may be freely archived and distributed, provided no changes are made to the actual content of the list. The following is a list of terms, acronyms, and abbreviations used in the net-abuse forum. Many of the words are specific to this community, though some are also widely used elsewhere with a similar meaning. (Last updated on September 14, 1998) 404 compliant --------- The status of a website which has been completely removed, usually by the administrators of the hosting site as a result of net abuse by those who operated the website. The term is a tongue- in-cheek reference to the standard "301 compliant" Murkowski Bill disclaimer used by spammers. [see also: Murking, spammer, spamvertise] AB -------------------- "AfterBurner" Pseudonym used by the person who operates the abuse desk at Erols ISP. Legendary anti-spam advocate widely known for his fast and effective termination of spammer accounts. [see also: Golden Mallet, ISP, spam, TOSsed] AFAIK ----------------- "as far as I know" AFAICS ---------------- "as far as I can see" AUP ------------------- "acceptable use policy" The policy of a given ISP which sets out what the ISP considers to be (un)acceptable uses of its Internet resources. [see also: ISP, TOS] BI -------------------- "Breidbart Index" The Breidbart Index is the mathematical formula, named for its originator, Seth Breidbart, used by Usenet despammers to judge whether a given posting is spam and can be legitimately cancelled. Currently, anything with a BI of 20 is considered spam. There are several variants (such as BI2) but these are not widely used. [see also: EMP] binary bomb ----------- The posting of an extremely large number of binary- encoded articles, usually in a series of thousands, designed to flood and disrupt a Usenet newsgroup. [see also: DOS attack, EMP] bit bucket ------------ As a noun, it refers to the metaphorical location where any Internet communication goes which is junked before it reaches its intended target. As a verb, it refers to the act of doing so. [see also: blackhole] thee BlueList --------- A list of well-known anti-spam activists, used by spammers to target these people for harassment. The full name is "Thee BlueList of Internet Complainers" and is maintained by someone known only as Thee BlueLister, whose trademark is spelling "the" as "thee." The current incarnation is known as the Brown List. [see also: Netscum] blackhole ------------- Either an e-mail account which silently and invisibly deletes all mail sent to it, or the act of doing so. [see also: bit bucket] BOFH ------------------ "bastard operator from hell" brandystorming -------- Repeatedly cancelling Usenet postings to the NANA hierarchy, despite having them continously reposted by Dave the Resurrector. Named after the first person to have done so, Brandy Alexandre. Also known as brandybombing. [see also: DtR, NANA, rogue cancel] BTW ------------------- "by the way" the Cabal ------------- An apocryphal organization said to run the entire Internet, made up of system administrators, anti- spam activists, and despammers. In common usage, it refers to those who frequent the NANA newsgroups. [see also: lumber cartel, NANA, net.kook, TINC] cancelbot ------------- An automated or semi-automated program which will issue a cancel message for a Usenet posting. cascade --------------- A long series of postings, each quoting all the ones previous, with only a small addition to the entir quoted material. Tends to produce an aesthetic cascading pattern in the quoted portion as it grows. Considered by many as a form of net abuse. [see also: meow, the Nose] CAUCE ----------------- "Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail" A volunteer-run lobbying organization created to oppose junk e-mail. CAUCE's homepage can be found at: . [see also: UBE, UCE] C&C ------------------- "coffee & cats" Used in the subject in postings to the NANA newsgroups to indicate that the posting is humorous. Meant as a non-serious warning that the posting may cause sudden laughter, and thus the spilling of coffee and upsetting of cats near the reader. [see also: NANA] clue-by-four ---------- A tip given to someone who appears to be grossly ignorant of the information being imparted. [see also: LART, Sam-o-Gram] CP -------------------- "CyberPromo" The company owned by Sanford Wallace, widely considered one of the first junk e-mailing businesses. Easily the single most hated company on the entire Internet. [see also: Spamford, UBE, UCE] deboursify ------------ The act of removing inappropriate or non-existant newsgroups from the Newsgroups: header when replying to an article. Named for Stephen "Speedbump" Boursy, who is infamous for his excessive crossposting. [see also: ECP, sneck] DOS attack ------------ "denial-of-service attack" Any activity designed to disrupt the normal online activities of a domain or user, typically a mailbomb or a ping storm. [see also: binary bomb, mailbomb, ping storm, win nuke] drop box -------------- An account used by a spammer solely for the purpose of forwarding e-mail to their "real" e-mail address, since they lose their throwaway accounts with such frequency. [see also: throwaway account] DtR ------------------- "Dave the Resurrector" An automated program which reposts all cancelled articles in the NANA newsgroups in order to thwart disruption through mass rogue cancels by spammers, a common occurance there. [see also: NANA] ECP ------------------- "excessive cross-posting" Adding a large number or irrelevant newsgroups to the Newsgroups: line of a Usenet posting. Considered to be a form of net abuse, but much less abusive than EMP. [see also: deboursify, EMP, sneck] EMP ------------------- "excessive multi-posting" Posting a substantively identical message numerous times to one or more Usenet newsgroups. [see also: Breidbart Index, ECP] ESAD ------------------ "eat shit and die" FAQ ------------------- "frequently asked questions" FAQE ------------------ A false, untrue, or inaccurate FAQ. Pronounced "fake." [see also: FAQ] flame ----------------- An angry or insulting reply to a newsgoup posting, or the act of doing so. [see also: troll] FOAD ------------------ "fuck off and die" free speach ----------- Term used ironically to refer to an apocryphal 'right' often claimed by spammers to support their theft of services. Deliberately misspelled to differentiate between actual free speech rights. Term originated as a result of the frequent misspellings of the term by spammers. Sometimes also referred to as 'frea speach.' FWIW ------------------ "for what it's worth" FYI ------------------- "for your information" GoAT ------------------ "go away troll" [see also: troll] Golden Mallet --------- An unofficial award given by consensus in the NANA newsgroups for meritorious activities in the anti- spam community. The first recipient of a Golden Mallet award was AfterBurner. [see also: AB, mallet, NANA] HAND ------------------ "have a nice day" HTH ------------------- "happy to help" IANAL ----------------- "I am not a lawyer" IIRC ------------------ "if I remember/recall correctly" IKYABWAI -------------- "I know you are but what am I" Often used in a derogatory sense when someone has said this using other words, to point out the childishness of such a tactic. IMHO ------------------ "in my humble opinion" IMNSHO ---------------- "in my not so humble opinion" IMO ------------------- "in my opinion" IDP ------------------- "internet death penalty" Often written incorrectly in place of UDP. An Internet Death Penalty refers to complete shunning at the router level of all mail and packets, as well as Usenet messages, from the offending domain(s). [see also: rogue, UDP] ISP ------------------- "internet service provider" IOW ------------------- "in other words" joe ------------------- To 'joe' someone is to forge e-mail messages or Usenet postings so as to make another person or domain appear responsible for it. Usually done in order to harass the person or domain being joed. Named for joes.com, an ISP which was damaged as a result of being joed. kook ------------------ An extremely eccentric, irrational, or certifiably insane person, generally (though not always) held to be annoying but harmless. [see also: net.kook] Kook Kabal ------------ Often held to refer (incorrectly) to any member of Dave Hayes' Freedom Knights organization. More accurately, it refers to a specific group of net.kooks who frequent the NANA newsgroups and make serious references to the Cabal (TINC). [see also: Cabal, kook, NANA, net.kook, TINC] LART ------------------ "loser attitude readjustment tool" Often used as a verb to mean any punitive action taken against a net abuser. [see also: peepee slap] Lumber Cartel --------- Apocryphal organization which some junk e-mailers claim are paying those who oppose spam. According to the spammers, the lumber companies fear a loss in profits as a result of people using junk e-mail rather than paper junk mail. [see also: the cabal, TINC] mailbomb -------------- An extremely large number of and/or excessively large pieces of e-mail sent to a single e-mail address, designed to make using that mailbox extremel difficult or impossible. [see also: DOS attack] mallet ---------------- A large, heavy hammer. Often said to be used in a metaphorical sense when delivering an especially powerful LART. [see also: Golden Mallet, LART] meow ------------------ The activities and motto of the Nosers. Activities such as trolling, cascading, and newsgroup invasions are referred to as meowing. [see also: cascade, the Nose, troll] MLM ------------------- "multi-level marketting" Any kind of money-making scheme which requires the recruitment of other people who will, in turn, recruit still more people. [see also: MMF] MMF ------------------- "make money fast" Refers to any kind of scheme which promises participants large profits with little or no risk or effort. Typically, it is a some kind of MLM operation which involves recruiting more members, or an illegal pyramid scam. The term is also used to refer to any kind of spam which promotes this. [see also: spam, MLM] munging --------------- The falsification of one's own e-mail address on a Usenet posting in such a way that a human can figure out what the real address is, but a program cannot. This is done to evade e-mail address harvesting programs used by spammers to target their junk e-mail. Both mung and munge are accepted alternate spellings. [see also: UBE, UCE] Murk ------------------ A piece of UBE which includes a disclaimer which makes reference to the American legislation proposed by Senator Murkowski, generally considered to be advantageous to spammers. To send such a piece of UBE is referred to as Murking, and to receive one is to be Murked. [see also: 404 compliant, spammer, UBE] NANA ------------------ "news.admin.net-abuse.*" Refers to the newsgroups, collectively, that make up the NANA hierarchy. Each individual newsgroup is often referred to by adding a letter to NANA. For example, NANAU would refer to news.admin.net-abuse.usenet. Sometimes referred to as NAN-A or N.A.N-A as well. [see also: the Cabal] Netscum --------------- Term used by the Kook Kabal to refer to any person they believe to be a member of the Cabal (TINC). It also refers to the name of the website on which the Kook Kabal post personal, libelous, and frequently incorrect data about people they claim are Netscum. Currently defunct. [see also: the Cabal, Kook Kabal, net.kook, TINC] net.kook -------------- A person whose online Internet activities (usually Usenet postings) make them appear to be a kook. [see also: kook, Kook Kabal] the Nose -------------- This refers to the alt.fan.karl-malden.nose newsgroup, which is the current headquarters of the Meowers. The purpose of the newsgroup is to provide a base of operations from which to harass or destroy other newsgroups. Past bases of operations have included alt.syntax.tactical and alt.bigfoot. [see also: cascade, meow, troll] open server ----------- A mail or news server which is unsecured and permits anyone to use it, making it possible for spammers to abuse it. [see also: relay rape, spam] peepee slap ----------- A dressing down or warning from an ISP to one of their users, usually as a result of complaints by others about the user's online behaviour. [see also: LART, TOSsed] ping storm ------------ A flood of "pings" (simple server requests normally used to check net conditions) designed to disrupt the normal activity of a system. [see also: DOS attack] plonk ----------------- Written when first placing someone into a Usenet kill-file, so that the person being plonked will be aware that poster will no longer see any of the plonked person's postings. The word is said to be the sound effect of a name being dropped into a kill-file. [see also: sneck] Pot. Kettle. Black. --- Refers to the aphorism: "the pot calling the kettle black." Used when indicating that a person is accusing someone else of something the accuser is him- or herself guilty of. RBL ------------------- "Realtime Black List" A list maintained by Paul Vixie and his associates, of domains and IP addresses known to be sources of large amounts of junk e-mail. This list is used by many ISPs to assist them in blocking UBE/UCE by blocking all e-mail from blacklisted domains. The list is updated every few minutes, in 'realtime.' [see also: ISP, UBE, UCE] relay rape ------------ The hijacking of a third party's unsecured mail server to deliver junk e-mail. RFMS ------------------ "Rapid Fire Mail Server" A piece of junk e-mailing software which connects direct-to-MX with the mail system of the targets. This was mistakenly thought by the people who used it to successfully hide their identity, but in fact made it easier for them to be traced. For this reason, it is also known as the Rapidly Falling Mallet Summoner. [see also: junk e-mail, mallet, UBE, UCE] rogue ----------------- An ISP which permits net abuse (usually in the form of spamming or UBE) by its customers, or which itself engages in such activities. Rogue ISPs are sometimes subject to IDPs or UDPs. Sometimes deliberately mispelled as "rouge." [see also: IDP, ISP, UDP] rogue cancel ---------- A Usenet cancel message which was issued for a non-legitimate reason. [see also: cancelbot] RTFM ------------------ "read the fucking manual" Sam-o-Gram ------------ A sternly-worded piece of e-mail sent by Sam, a well-known NANAE contributor, to a person or system which has demonstrated a need for a blue-by-four. These letters also generally posted publicly to NANAE at the time they're sent. [see also: clue- by-four, NANA] sneck ----------------- Written when deboursifying a follow-up to a Usenet posting. Said to be the sound effect made by doing so. [see also: deboursify, plonk] Spamford -------------- The nickname of Sanford Wallace, the owner of CyberPromo and one of the most despised men on the entire Internet. Alternate nicknames include: Spamfraud, Scamford, and Scamfraud. The last name of Wallace is often replaced with Wideass. [see also: CP] spam ------------------ A tinned luncheon meat made by Hormel. Originally held to mean any Usenet posting made an excessive number of times, it has now come to include any form of deliberate net abuse, including UBE/UCE. The term is taken from the infamous Monty Python 'Viking skit.' [see also: ECP, EMP, UBE, UCE] spammer --------------- One who engages in the sending of spam or UBE/UCE. [see also: spam, UBE, UCE] spamvertise ----------- To promote a product, service, or website through the use of spam/UBE/UCE. [see also: spam, UBE, UCE] TANSTAAFL ------------- "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" throwaway account ----- An inexpensive Internet account purchased on an ISP by a spammer for the the sole purpose of spamming, knowing in advance that this account will get TOSsed as a result. [see also: drop box, ISP, TOSsed] TIA ------------------- "thanks in advance" TINC ------------------ "there is no Cabal" Normally used when making a facaetious reference to the Cabal (TINC) by adding it after the word, in brackets. [see also: the Cabal, Kook Kabal, NANA, Netscum, TINLC] TINLC ----------------- "there is no Lumber Cartel" Normally used when making a facaetious reference to the Lumber Cartel (TINLC) by adding it after the word, in brackets. [see also: Lumber Cartel, NANA, TINC] TINW ------------------ "there is no we" Normally used after making a reference to "we" in a NANA newsgroup, to indicate that the poster is aware the net-abuse community is not a single homogenous group of people of identical goals. [see also: NANA, TINC, TINLC] TOS ------------------- "terms of service" Contract signed when joining an ISP, which states what activities are and are not permitted by the ISP, what the responsibilities of the customer are, and what the responsibilities of the ISP are. [see also: AUP, ISP, TOSsed] TOSsed ---------------- Being kicked off an ISP for breaking the AUP or TOS. Alternate spelling is TOSed. [see also: AUP, ISP, TOS] troll ----------------- Either the act of posting a message with the purpose of attracting flames, or the person doing so. [see also: flames, the Nose, meow] UBE ------------------- "unsolicited bulk/broadcast e-mail" Also known as junk e-mail and (incorrectly) as spam. [see also: UCE] UCE ------------------- "unsolicited commercial e-mail" Also known as junk e-mail and (incorrectly) as spam. [see also: UBE] UDP ------------------- "usenet death penalty" This can be either passive or active. A passive UDP refers to the dropping of all postings by a particular domain so as to inhibit propagation. An active UDP refers to third-party cancellation of all postings by the UDPed domain. A partial UDP is one which applies only to certain newsgroups or hierarchies in Usenet. [see also: IDP, rogue] whack-a-mole ---------- The act of repeatedly causing spammers' throwaway accounts and drop boxes to be terminated. Named for the carnival game which involves quickly and repeatedly hitting the heads of mechanical moles with a hammer as they pop up from their holes. [see also: drop box, mallet, throwaway account] white hat ------------- An award given metaphorically to those systems or people who act in a responsible, ethical way, usually in relation to the termination of a spammer's account. It can also refer to the person or system him/her/itself. [see also: LART, spam, TOS] win nuke -------------- The deliberate creation of an out-of-band error in a system running Microsoft Windows, causing the system to crash. [see also: DOS attack] YM -------------------- "you mean" YMMV ------------------ "your mileage may vary"