Newbie |
A newbie is a .
Variant spellings, such as newb, noob or n00b (spelled with zeros replacing the o s), are numerous and common in Internet use, particularly in the internet language Leet.
=Semantics=
It can be both a disparaging and friendly term, always referring to a , or someone who behaves as such.
The word itself is likely a corruption of new boy ; a new arrival in a school and who is, therefore, vulnerable to bullying of various kinds, such as hazing or fagging.
It is also used in various clubs and organizations for new members, sometimes also subjected to traditional / creative initation. On Google s Usenet archive, the word first appears in 1988 [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.mac/browse_thread/thread/f94c1a437ac39f3d/68659de9d2d8e42dq=newbie&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fhl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26num%3D10%26q%3Dnewbie%26qt_s%3DSearch+Groups%26as_drrb%3Db%26as_mind%3D1%26as_minm%3D1%26as_miny%3D1987%26as_maxd%3D4%26as_maxm%3D1%26as_maxy%3D1989%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d#68659de9d2d8e42d].
The term was used prior to this as slang in the U.S. Military to denote men who had finished technical school (so no longer a recruit and rookie) and were just arriving to their first permanent assignment.
=Discouraging newbies=
In some contexts, such as on Usenet and in multiplayer video games, being a newbie is discouraged. Newbies may ask questions that seem extremely simple to experienced users, or disrupt normal order with their lack of skills or etiquette in a certain type of technology. For example, video game players may dislike newbies because they think newbies will hurt or bring down the collective efforts of a team game. Usenet posters may dislike newbies for bringing up off-topic discussion or violating Netiquette.
In some groups, the term newbie is used by experienced users to refer to any newcomer, whether the newcomer acts ignorantly or not. In this case, the regulars assert their position with a sort of hazing (sometimes called Pwning in video games).
In some Computer_role-playing_games a newbie is anyone who is lower-leveled than the person making the remark, regardless of actual time spent playing the game. (for example, a level 60 player in World of Warcraft may consider a level 30 player a newbie). Some forums and Computer_role-playing_games have banned some of the more common spelling variations ( newb, noob, n00b ) in an attempt to reduce flame wars. This has, of course, led to more variations.
Referring to regular members as newbies is often considered to be highly insulting. The implication is that they are behaving as if they do not know the rules when in fact they have had more than sufficient opportunity to learn them.
In IRC, newbies are both discouraged and encouraged, depending on the particular channel. There are channels on any of the major networks dedicated to catering to newbie questions and getting into the IRC community. However, beyond the scope of these introductory rooms there are many channels where common newbie mistakes are not tolerated. This may include, repeating the same sentence, begging for pirated software, immature insult slinging, attacking an operator, usage of color, and the use of channel bot search and file list commands (such as !find or @search). Most channels have rules that are posted as a link in the topic or sent to the user as an on-join message. Breaking said rules or established policy by someone who does not take the initiative to find out the rules can result in an instant kick-ban.
==Encouraging newbies==
It is often a personal choice within a community whether to discourage or encourage newbies. For example, some GNU/Linux users may discourage non-technical users who try to install GNU/Linux, because supporting these users will be difficult and the newbies may be dissatified in the long run. On the other hand, some GNU/Linux users may prefer to encourage newbies, because it grows their userbase and may help the newbies learn more about computing.
Sometimes newbies are recognized as the most important members and received with extra attention. Some chat rooms, for example, have established rules to ask oldies to first answer the newbies questions or concerns before resuming their ongoing discussions. Large Internet forums such as 2channel and Gaia Online have special boards for newbies to learn the basics of chatting on that forum.
Other communities do not treat newbies with a significantly elevated status, but do greet most of the friendly newbies with welcomes informing them of methods to receive assistance. In these situations, the term is basically synonymous with newcomer and is meant with or without affection. For example, Wikipedia has a firm policy of welcoming all new contributors whether or not their first edits are helpful to an encyclopedia. This way, users who make mistakes will be encouraged to learn the rules and keep contributing, rather than provoking censure or anger.
The positive interpretation is probably the more recent but has become quite common. The only way to determine the intended connotation is to examine the context.
Individuals may refer to themselves as newbies in a self-deprecating manner or in acknowledgment of their newcomer status, which may (or may not) lessen the amount of harassment they receive. This may have negative or a positive connotations, depending on the standards of the community.
=Newb vs. noob=
Newb and noob may have somewhat different connotations. Newbs are simply newcomers - noob, on the other hand, generally means someone who is obnoxious, annoying, or breaks the rules; whether they are actual newcomers or not is mostly irrelevant. Therefore, a noob may be someone who has been around for a time but still engages in behavior that he should have learned is unacceptable. Noobs are generally confident in what they are doing, but in reality are annoying others. Newb is not necessarily an insulting word, but noob is.
Noob and its variants ( n00b , naab , noobo , über , nUb , nublet , n44b etc.) can also mean a person who claims to know a lot about a subject but in truth does not. It was first used in Hacker groups on the Bulletin board system chat systems in the 1980s. It is important to note that noob and newb are not necessarily interchangeable.
Recently, the spelling noob has been used more interchangably with newb, however, and is being used in a more joking manner.
In online gaming, the term is also often used as a general insult. Frustrated players on the losing team may refer to the winning team as noobs. In this case there is no actual connotation of newness meant; the word is simply being used as an insult. By the same token, members of a dominating team may use the term noobs (n00bs) to further frustrate their opposition by implying a general lack of skill on the losing team s part, such as camping (staying at the same place all the time and using a one-hit-kill weapon all the time) or wastefully firing at a wall. Noob might also be used by veteran players to criticize cheap tactics or overusage of unbalanced weaponry. E.g., in an online team game where friendly fire is turned off, a noob tactic would be to overuse explosives in cramped areas around fellow teammates. Noob also specifically applies in games where team-play is important, and the players choose to completely ignore the team structure and goals.
Noob has frequently been written in different forms. Because of the proximity of the j key to the n key, players in online games often typed j00b or joob by accident, and the recent proliferation of nub (used to shorten the word noob) has often turned into jub . Though neither joob or jub have any meaning, their connection with noob makes the two words equivalent. B00b sometimes appears in a similar manner ( b is right besides n in a standard computer keyboard).
An interesting moral point which has recently come up in some areas of the Internet is that those who call others noobs indeed are noobs in that calling them such a degrading term reveals the caller s immaturity.
= Likely etymology of n00b =
The likely etymology of n00b is the following:
# newbie (new person) # newb (shortened version of newbie) # noob (a variant probably for both phonetics and Leetspeaking ) # n00b (Partial Leetspeak of noob )
=Noob Talk=
An underground joke is Noob talk or NOB TALK . Noob talk is when an individual uses harsh spelling errors and terrible punctuation to insult noobs. A lot of real noob talk is found on games such as postings on Usenet.
Example of real noob talk : OMG LOLOLOLO U SUK!!!!!!11
Example of joke noob talk : OMGWTFBBQ U SUK!!!!!11oneone11!one
Newblicon, nooblicon, nooblet, nublet and newbsicle are also variations.
This is also fr00b, meaning cheater, or fake.
Noob or n00b as insult is sometimes ethically loaded in ways similar to Internet troll . Thus, there are certain actions which will trigger someone s being labeled as a noob or n00b, as a form of peer-to-peer negative sanction. In role-playing games for instance, this would include such actions as begging for free in-game items off other players, attempting to initiate trading with other players outside usual trading areas, following or harassing players, and massively under-/over-charging or /-paying for ingame items. It can also include asking for in-game help rather than solving problems oneself or by Googling, using dirty tricks to gain an advantage in competitive situations over more skillful or higher-level players, and letting down a team effort through incompetence - with the exact parameters depending on who is using the term. Although apparently originating in descriptions of ignorant actions common among new players, its usage extends to high-level players who act in these ways, and does not cover new players (newbs) who do not act in these ways. Its pervasiveness as a general insult or means of chiding players for annoying, foolish or disruptive actions probably originates from the banning, censoring or penalising of more common insults and swearing in many online gaming settings. Someone online may call someone a n00b, who offline would call them a bastard, wanker, or idiot.
= Noob as a verb =
The verb noob usually means to own (Pwn in some cases) someone like a noob. Noob is not necessarily a derogatory verb, but can be depending on the context. For instance: if person A beats person B to the point where person B looked like a newbie in comparison, person A noobed person B. In any situation where person A could say he owned or beat person B like person B was a noob or newbie, person A noobed person B.
It is also possible to hear the verb used in the opposite context. If person A is new to the game or does not play well and beats person B on a lucky chance, then person B could say that he got noobed, especially if he or she is an excellent player. Noob as a derogatory verb is therefore not hard to grasp, as it is merely an extension of its noun and adjective counterparts.
Noobing is also seen as a verb by using your über l33t skills to Pwn unsuspecting noobs. This is common in online games, such as Starcraft, Warcraft, or [http://www.tibia.com Tibia].
Also, noob can stand for no observers, thus intimidating beginners in online games by calling them observers, and not being able to affect the l33t gamer.
And finally, the verb noob is sometimes seen as Noobing it up (or more commonly, Newbin it up ), which means to be or act like a noob. If person A is getting pwned by person B, one could say person A is newbin it up.
= See also =
*Chainik *Luser *Wannabe *Leet *Pure Pwnage
=References=
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