spod

spod
 n.

   [UK]

   1. A lower form of life found on {talker system}s and {MUD}s. The spod
   has few friends in {RL} and uses talkers instead, finding
   communication easier and preferable over the net. He has all the
   negative traits of the computer geek without having any interest in
   computers per se. Lacking any knowledge of or interest in how networks
   work, and considering his access a God-given right, he is a major
   irritant to sysadmins, clogging up lines in order to reach new MUDs,
   following passed-on instructions on how to sneak his way onto Internet
   ("Wow! It's in America!") and complaining when he is not allowed to
   use busy routes. A true spod will start any conversation with "Are you
   male or female?" (and follow it up with "Got any good
   numbers/IDs/passwords?") and will not talk to someone physically
   present in the same terminal room until they log onto the same machine
   that he is using and enter talk mode. Compare {newbie}, {tourist},
   {weenie}, {twink}, {terminal junkie}, {warez d00dz}.

   2. A {backronym} for "Sole Purpose, Obtain a Degree"; according to
   some self-described spods, this term is used by indifferent students
   to condemn their harder-working fellows. Compare the defiant adoption
   of the term {geek} in the mid-1990s by people who would previously
   have been stigmatized by it. Spods in the positive sense are talker
   users who've accumulated a large amount of spod time, that is, they
   spend a lot of time logged in to that talker (for example, my spod
   time on Uberworld as of this moment is 131 days, 15 hours and 20
   minutes). Spods are generally highly knowledgeable about talkers and
   SGXStalker coding, as well as computers and the internet in general.

   3. [Glasgow University] An otherwise competent hacker who spends way
   too much time on talker systems.

   4. [obs.] An ordinary person; a {random}. This is the meaning with
   which the term was coined, but the inventor informs us he has himself
   accepted sense 1.
    

spod

   <chat> (Great Britain) A lower form of life found on {chat}
   systems and {MUDs}.  The spod has few friends in {RL} and uses
   chat instead, finding communication easier and preferable over
   the {net}.  He has all the negative traits of the {computer
   geek} without having any interest in computers per se.
   Lacking any knowledge of, or interest in, how networks work,
   and considering his access a God-given right, he is a major
   irritant to {sysadmins}, clogging up lines in order to reach
   new {MUDs}, following passed-on instructions on how to sneak
   his way onto {Internet} ("Wow!  It's in America!") and
   complaining when he is not allowed to use busy routes.  A true
   spod will start any conversation with "Are you male or
   female?" (and follow it up with "Got any good
   numbers/IDs/passwords?") and will not talk to someone
   physically present in the same terminal room until they log
   onto the same computer that he is using and enter {chat}.

   Compare {newbie}, {tourist}, {weenie}, {twink}, {terminal
   junkie}, {dweeb}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1998-01-18)