What is a “newbie”?
A newbie is person who is new to the Internet, to Usenet, or just to the newsgroup in question, and makes all of the silly mistakes many people make when they first began using the Internet. Its use on the Internet originated in the MUDs, and has spread from there. One can avoid many of these mistakes by reading through the files listed in the Note to New Users at the beginning of this FAQ and taking their advice to heart, and by reading this group for several weeks before making your first post, in order to get a feel for the atmosphere of the group as well as for what is and is not allowed here. The opposite of newbie is dino (As in “dinosaur,” not as in the Flintstone’s pet).
A newbie is someone who is relatively new to a certain newsgroup/online list/service, etc. • What is a “lurker”? A lurker is someone who reads but, for the most part, doesn’t post to an online group. There are hundreds or thousands of lurkers in any given newsgroup. • What is ‘Netiquette’? This is proper etiquette used in cyberspace (Internet + etiquette = netiquette). You should get the hang of it if you stick around for a while; much of it is common sense – don’t post things that will be rude or uncalled for. This AMN FAQ covers a lot of netiquette. • Why is there so much porn here? A lot of people advertise their webpages, and sometimes they are ones of an adult nature. Most of the time they will e-mail it to you, if they get your address from a post you made. This is why many people use “spamblocks” such as disguising their e-mail address. An example would be: adding “nospam.” to an e-mail address like so: “jslade@nospam.netcom.ca”, so that the e-mail won’t reach you, because the “
That’s not irrelevant, for if we were to construct a monthly posting for newbies, we’d need a model of the target audience. Nice general question . . . . a brilliant response It would be easy to debate what a newbie is but not very productive because it undoubtedly means slightly different things to different people. Perhaps people should contribute their description of the “model Linux newbie” and the list can comment on ones they like. A description of the model Linux newbie: A person new enough to Linux that they do not yet know how to do the things they want to do with Linux, nor what things are possible with Linux, nor how to find out the answers for themselves. An alternative description: A person that would benefit from having a mentor to introduce them to Linux, show them some basics, and how to utilize on line and off line documentation, and the etiquette of community supported software.
