Common Jargon

The Dreamwidth project has some jargon in common use that may not be familiar to the general public. While these are not official terms that you should know, or necessarily Dreamwidth-specific, general explanations or definitions may be helpful.

=Dreamwidth-Specific=


 * droll: Reading page. A contraction of the portmanteau "Dreamroll", formed from "blogroll". Compare LiveJournal's "flist".

=Words=


 * bingo: the game. Also a way of organizing the perennial invalid arguments/distraction tactics that come up against a divisive topic. See: porny presentation bingo, racism bingo, anti-feminist bingo.


 * cat macros: Images of cats with funny captions. Sometimes used as a form of protest and/or mockery. Also referred to as LOLcats. (From the internet.) See I Can Has Cheezburger.


 * derailing: The conscious or unconscious process of destroying and confusing a conversation about productive but uncomfortable topics. Derailing for Dummies


 * earworm: a song that gets stuck in your head. See earworm and earwormhole.


 * fandom: A general term for a community of people who are fans of things, such as "sports fandom", or "Star Trek fandom". When used without qualification, it often (but not always) refers to Western science fiction and fantasy book and media fandom, or a certain subset of same.


 * fisting: A sexual practice that gets mentioned a lot in IRC. Probably more information on it than you wanted. (Inherited habit from LJ Support IRC. burr86 may be to blame.)


 * game, the: The only winning move is not to play. If you click the link, you may start playing.


 * going to the wiki: If you visit http://wiki.dwscoalition.org you see this message before it redirects to http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Main_Page. It has therefore become customary to announce "Going to the wiki!" in varying stages of capslock upon going to the wiki (to look up something or edit). (Popularized on IRC.)


 * hit points: A means of measuring someone's ability to withstand damage/attack or perform tasks. Notional "hit points" can be regained readily/predictably by a generally-able-bodied/mentally healthy person. Contrast 'spoons'. (By analogy from hit points in gaming.)


 * hivemind: Sharing the same brain or thoughts, usually expressed by saying the same thing at the same time. Commonly caused by spending too much time in IRC. (General term, popularized in IRC. That'll get you bees.)


 * Kaycee-Nicole: a notable internet hoax involving illness and death.


 * nipplegate: A controversial LiveJournal event. (From LiveJournal.)


 * pumpkin time: The time after which one will turn into a pumpkin. Generally a departure time or a bedtime. (Used in IRC, a reference to the Cinderella story.)


 * Razz: A variant of poker. According to Rah, "Razz is the reason why poker players drink." Rah plays Razz too often.


 * slash: Fanfiction involving same-sex attraction, sex, or romance. The most restrictive definition would apply this only to sex/romance between two men who are straight or unspecificed in the source text. N00bs sometimes use it to refer to any sexually explicit fanfiction. (From the fanfictiony parts of fandom.)


 * snowflake, special snowflake: Someone who demands special treatment based on their unique circumstances, particularly when their circumstances are not unique, or when they believe themselves to be in an extreme circumstance and are unaware that others have surpassed their record. Urban Dictionary definition


 * spice: "I think so, Brain, but if the plural of mouse is mice, wouldn't the plural of spouse be spice?" From a Pinky and the Brain segment.


 * spoons: Finite physical/mental/emotional resources, at a level significantly below average ability levels, to handle daily tasks. More: WTF Spoons. (From disability advocacy; term originated from an article on But You Don't Look Sick?.) Compare 'hit points'.


 * strikethrough: A controversial LiveJournal event. (From LiveJournal.)


 * zilch: An addictive dice-rolling game, with a computer that cheats. Can be found in IRC, in #zilch. For all mentions of Zilch, developers take 1d6 hit to productivity.

=Abbreviations=


 * afaik: As Far As I Know


 * afk: Away From Keyboard


 * BNF: Big Name Fan. All the conflicting definitions seem to boil down to "a fan who is (very) famous within fandom". (From Western science fiction/fantasy book & media fandom.)


 * ffs: For Fuck's Sake


 * iawtc: I Agree With This Comment


 * idk: I Don't Know


 * iirc: If I Recall Correctly


 * imo, imho, imao: In My Opinion, In My Humble Opinion, In My Arrogant (or other suitable A-word) Opinion


 * NSFW/NWS: Not Safe For Work / Not Work-Safe. Content that the average boss/mother-in-law might not appreciate. You can mark an entry as NSFW by setting the Age Restriction to Viewer Discretion Advised, and get warned about NSFW entries by setting your Viewing Adult Content setting to Content Should Be Viewed with Discretion. FAQ (From the internet.)


 * RFC: Request For Comment. See Technical for more information.


 * RTE: Rich Text Editor. See Technical for more information.


 * tl;dr, tl,dr: Too Long, Didn't Read. Usually said as either a joke or an insult. Sometimes "written out" or pronounced as Teal Deer.


 * WIP: Work-In-Progress. Often said of a piece of fanfiction that is still being written (especially a piece of fanfiction that is being posted serially as it is being written), but also applies to other projects.


 * wtf: Often "What the Fuck"; on Dreamwidth, also "Watch-Trust-Friend"; see Technical


 * ymmv: Your Mileage May Vary; this is my experience or general experience, but yours may be different. ("your mileage may vary" is a disclaimer from auto commercials)

very large Webopedia list of abbreviations

also very large Netlingo list of abbreviations

Abbreviations.com list of abbreviations

=Technical=


 * Beta: Contrary to the precedent set by things like Gmail, "beta" actually means "we expect that stuff is going to be broken, that's why it's not out of beta yet". (From geek jargon.) (OMG, Gmail is out of beta now!! WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO!?)


 * Bikeshed(ding): Descending into increasingly-fine hair-splitting and world-ending pro/con over an issue that's rather small in the grander scheme of the project, particularly in a "push" environment such as e-mail. See Bikeshed. (From the Open Source technical community.)


 * Blocking Launch: A priority classification status for Dreamwidth bugs. Items that must be fixed before Dreamwidth can be launched/considered out of beta. Features that are listed as blocking launch will not be artificially delayed until the time of launch, but launch cannot happen until all of these are fixed/in place.


 * Cacti: A network graphing tool that Mark uses a lot.


 * Edges: Data that makes foxfirefey very happy. See Data_Sources.


 * ESN: Event-Subscription-Notification, the original development name for what eventually became the inbox/notification system. (From LiveJournal developers.)


 * Gearman: An asynchronous job scheduling engine, of the type "do this somewhere else". Benefits: somewhere else, fast. Flaws: currently if it dies jobs are lost (apparently the team that manages it is working on that). Name is an anagram of "manager"; from LiveJournal days. IRC log with history/discussion Gearman on Dreamwidth gearman.org


 * Nagios: A monitoring system used to advise Mark (and IRC) about whether Dreamwidth is functioning properly. See the Support/IRC section for further info.


 * OpenID: A way for a website to know that you totally are who you claim to be from that other website over there. An informal explanation. Dreamwidth OpenID FAQ (From LiveJournal; Brad developed it!)


 * PubSubHubbub: A way to make syndicated stuff update like greased lightning. From Google (and Brad!); the implementation is courtesy of our good friends in the LJ dev department. Sometimes also called Fred for short.


 * replicate, cannot replicate, replication: Dreamwidth has two master databases that are supposed to be identical copies of each other. Nagios freaks out when one copy is lagging behind the other. Nagios also cheerfully informs everyone when things are back to normal.


 * RFC: Request For Comment. An invitation for constructive and thorough criticism of the proposed concept. In general use in certain technical communities. Also, one of the founding documents describing standards that the internet attempts to abide by. Examples: RFC 3330 RFC 2324


 * RTE: Rich Text Editor, something that lets you add formatting to text as well as just do plain text. Contrast with HTML editor (plain text, although you can type in HTML formatting manually). LJ's RTE gathered a lot of dislike from LJ volunteers. (From internet in general & LiveJournal.)


 * TheSchwartz: An asynchronous job scheduling engine of the "Do this and tell me later" type. Has persistent queue support. It was named after Brad's manager, Mike Schwartz, the VP of Engineering at Six Apart, and may also have been a reference to Spaceballs (with Brad you never know). Solid, has a lot of overhead and a lot of setup. IRC log with history/discussion TheSchwartz on Dreamwidth TheSchwartz on cpan.org


 * Upstream: A flag in Dreamwidth's implementation of Bugzilla that is a courtesy to LiveJournal developers, to alert them that a bug inherited from the LiveJournal codebase has been patched. LiveJournal is actively encouraged to pick up patches that have been flagged for upstreaming. Yay Open Source!


 * WTF/Project WTF: Rather than "What The Fuck", this is Watch-Trust-Friend(s), the project of splitting LiveJournal's original Friends into Watch/Trust (this eventually became Read/Access). (From LiveJournal development and then Dreamwidth development.)

=People=


 * Mark : Mark Smith is one half of the founding team of Dreamwidth. He is also known as xb95.
 * Denise : Denise Paolucci is one half of the founding team of the site. She is known as Rahaeli or rah on IRC. She is also known as D and synecdochic.


 * Staff Page


 * Brad: Brad Fitzpatrick is the original creator of LiveJournal. While he is not affiliated with the Dreamwidth project, if someone name-drops "Brad", it's probably him. (However, brad is not him.)


 * People the owners have worked with in the past, partial list: Hachi, Abe, Mart, MK, BB, Carrie, Dave(man692) "worst username evar" Recordon, Tupshin


 * INGVA: QUEEN OF THE WILD PLACES

=Volunteer/IRC-Specific=


 * Alton Brown anal nachos: Alton Brown's perhaps unnecessarily fussy recipe for nachos. (From IRC. You really had to be there.)


 * Anna: Usually a reference to the Basshunter song "Boten Anna", about an IRC bot named Anna. LJ Support IRC has a support-bot named Anna.


 * babydev: A beginning developer. Generally used of developers who are new at development in general, not just new to the project.


 * bananas: Make like a banana in the presence of ice cream and split! (Kat got bored)


 * butterfinger: A candy bar or a finger that is buttered. Mark branched out into fanfiction. (From IRC.)


 * bus (non-essential and/or metaphorical, often seen being sent to hEll): A reference to "hit by a bus" as "unexpected tragedy", and discussions about what would happen if both Mark and Denise were to be hit by a bus at the same time. Operating_Agreement


 * Camp Permabanned: Where particularly enthusiastic/persistent spammers are sent. (An Azz-ism, and also a joke based on Camp Permafrost from Bujold's Vorkosigan series.)


 * Cat: Short for Support Category. (From LiveJournal support.)


 * channelstaples: notional staples that are said to keep someone who keeps disconnecting from the server stapled there. (Popular in LJ IRC, and perhaps other places.)


 * chemla, the: a dance. Not to be confused with Chemla, who is ChemicalLace the volunteer.


 * clocktower: If someone in IRC has 'clocktower' after their name, it means they're pretty mad about something. (From LJ Support IRC, an irreverent reference to crazed campus shooters.)


 * coed(s), invite coed(s): A deliberate misspelling of 'code', as in 'invite code(s)'. (From LiveJournal.)


 * Commit-and-Ditch pony: When someone does something that breaks stuff, and leaves everybody else with the mess, they are awarded the Commit-and-Ditch Pony. This can take the form of an actual toy pony, a pony virtual gift, or merely informing the offender that they now hold the pony. (From OpenMoko development, via LiveJournal volunteers.)


 * ELF: Enthusiastic Little Fucker. Said of particularly prolific spammers before they are sent to Camp Permabanned.


 * Frank: LiveJournal's goat mascot.


 * Fred: a more friendly name for PubSubHubbub (see Technical).


 * fruit loops: Appropriate-answer silliness.
 * (from IRC)
 * (from IRC)
 * (from IRC)
 * (from IRC)
 * (from IRC)


 * Goat: Usually a reference to a legacy LiveJournal Support bot of that name.


 * Green: a technical support question without an answer (or without an answer that has been reviewed and approved by senior support). Green is usually referred to numerically ("How much green?" "10."), which refers to the number of green requests. It can also be referred to in relative terms ("Lots.") or figurative ("Enough to fill a swimming pool!"). The support category "General/Unknown", commonly referred to as "G/Unk", spawned the phrase "green gunk", or "lime slime". (From LiveJournal support, based on the color coding of the Support system's user interface, which shows requests that are awaiting an approved response with a green background in the list of support requests.)


 * jdn: twopointoh & jdn . Fictional character, sometimes shows up in IRC (as jdn). Not to be confused with jd, who is in IRC as JD.


 * Kitten: a support category that has very few requests in it. Wordplay. Support Category = Category = Cat; cat that is very small = kitten. (From LiveJournal support.)


 * Mart bug death: Someone proposes something tiny and specialized, then Mart (a notable architecture astronaut) generalized it to the abstract case and said "we should do it this way so it can be used for this other stuff", turning it from a five-minute fix to a five-month fix. Then (the death part) whoever came along who could do the five-minute fix, but not the five-month fix, would look at it and go "screw this" and never do it . There were approximately four people who could do the five-month version, so it would never get done, because they had a gazillion five-month projects. (From LiveJournal development, seen in the wild mentioned by mart in '04.)


 * MrsJ: Mark, Rah, Sarah, and Janine; the Dreamwidth owners and their spice. (DW Support shorthand.)


 * nagios: In IRC, nick nagios is the monitoring bot. Various people will change their nicks to _nagios_ or similar variations to make jokes about the bot. History of the HEY MARK HEY MARK HEY MARK jokes See Technical for more information.


 * !pleh: 'Help!' spelled backwards. (From LiveJournal Support.)


 * pillowfort: refers to the secret hiding place of the Triumvirate + pony


 * qdb: Quotes Database, a collection of particularly funny and/or memorable quotes uttered in various Dreamwidth IRC channels. This is maintained by sophie, and also contains quotes from select other channels that previously shared the same server.


 * Rahversation: refers to a conversation involving Rah ( denise ). Coined by ysobel


 * SKULLBUTT THE TORMENTOR: Once upon a time, an underwear designer put a flaming skull on the front and back of a pair of briefs. Assorted #dw and #dw_nsfw people in and around amusing-underwear pointed and laughed. mayerman coined the name, and remark elevated it into a catchphrase.


 * Speaking of , hello : You may be greeted this way upon entering IRC. Likely as not,  has nothing to do with you; it was just the topic the moment before you entered. (This greeting habit was more prevalent in LJ volunteer IRC but still persists.)


 * teapatty, *|teapatty: Someone making reference to "teapatty" or changing their IRC nick to incorporate "teapatty" is either drunk or pretending not to be. At one point Wyn attempted to say "Not drunk, repeat, not drunk." Unfortunately for them, they were drunk enough that it came out "Not drunk, teapatty, not drunk." (From LiveJournal Support IRC.)


 * Triumvirate, The: refers to the current support wranglers: Domtheknight (The Bug-Squashing Boots), zarhooie (The Tact Hat) and chemicallace (The All-Purpose Boa). The Triumvirate + Pony is the Triumvirate with the addition of the Froot Loop Pony, also known as ysobel.


 * twix: A candy bar, or a play on words involving "twixt". Mark branched out into fanfiction. (From IRC.)


 * worst username evar: David Recordon daveman692 . Refers to a LiveJournal ad for rename tokens that featured his username. (From LJ.)

=Other Resources=
 * Jargon File: Many words from a gentler, more precise era of technology, although some are still in use today.
 * Urban Dictionary: Let the reader beware. (Often not safe for work -- or for other things, for that matter.)
 * Fanlore fandom wiki: Fannish type information, in convenient wiki format.
 * bash.org: A much larger, multi-network IRC quotes database. Contains notably uncensored language and potentially offensive content.