[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia glossary

Wed Nov 15 11:50:32 UTC 2006

Very entertaining read!

On 11/15/06, Michael Snow <wikipedia at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> As you know, we have a lot of specialized lingo on Wikipedia. Even
> worse, since anyone can edit, people are always adding new TLAs,
> shortcuts, and neologisms to our jargon. For those of you who haven't
> been keeping up, here are some handy definitions:
>
> AfD - Something that used to be called VfD, but had to be changed when
> Lemony Snicket complained about trademark infringement.
> Consensus - Fewer than two Wikipedians.
> Cruft - The stuff that lives in the internet's series of tubes and
> delays loading of pages from Wikipedia. Sorry, buying more servers
> doesn't actually help.
> Edit count - A way of picking admins that makes about as much sense as,
> say, buying a website based purely on its traffic numbers.
> Good faith - An anagram for "swift boat".
> Guideline - See: Policy
> Infobox - A large table. There are usually supposed to be some chairs
> with it to make it useful, but many of the legs are often missing.
> Instruction - See: Process
> Jimbo - The co-founder of Citizendium.
> Mailing list - Place to write something you're not willing to have
> edited mercilessly.
> Policy - See: Instruction
> Process - See: Guideline
> Redirect - To repeat a command already given to somebody who is behaving
> inappropriately, for example by using the various vandalism warning
> templates. "Stop, or I'll say 'Stop' again!" is a double redirect.
> Sockpuppet - Something to wear when walking on astroturf.
> Stub - An article with more categories than it has words.
> Userbox - A coffin.
>
> --Michael Snow
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