Informatics Teacher (and You Should Not Reply to All)



  • There was a time when using a computer meant using Windows, the expression "user friendly" was heard as frequently as "Rayleigh dispersion" and the most social you could get in the internets was sending instant messages and emails. Back then, a common profession in my country was that of the "informatics teacher" - people who taught lammers* how to use a PC. There were schools just for that, where teachers would teach your grandmother how to send you chain emails and read news about their favorite soap opera on Yahoo!

    Nowadays, though, your grandmother will probably have learned and mastered how to use an iPad in 20 minutes if you handle her one, so this profession is waning.

    Still, one of my classmates is currently unemployed, so he's trying his luck as a freelancer informatics teacher, giving classes at his students' homes. He made some personal ad where he says he'll teach you everything ranging from using email to making some real professional stuff with Photoshop. Then he sent it to all his 400 or so GMail contacts. And yeah, nobody was in the bcc list.

    I usually get email from this guy from a google group, and I have conditioned myself to always hit the "reply to all" link in GMail so that if there are more people involved, all of them get my response. After all, I never get any email that's got more than 10 recipients. So I replied to all his contacts, and it looks like at least 250 of those emails don't exist anymore, have their inbox full, need some extra confirmation that I'm a human before receiving email from me or have some other problem that keeps them from getting my message and have their email servers emailing me back about that.

    It's been three days and I'm still receiving a lot of trash email telling me that some nameless joe couldn't get my message. And it seems like I'm not the only one, there are people among those contacts asking everybody else to stop sending so many emails to them. Repeatedly.

    I wonder how long it would take to fill someone's inbox if some kind of automated response (like the one GMail uses when you tell it you're on vacation) were at work. "can't get your email" - "I'm on holidays, will reply in a few days" - "can't get your email" ad infinitum.

    *Notice that I'm using the word "lammers" because that was so long ago that the term "noob" hadn't been invented yet (it was still spelled as "newbie", and people used more politically correct expressions such as "computer illiterate").



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]There was a time when using a computer meant using Windows, the expression "user friendly" was heard as frequently as "Rayleigh dispersion"[/quote]

    I had a Classic Mac, you insensitive clod!



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    *Notice that I'm using the word "lammers" because that was so long ago that the term "noob" hadn't been invented yet (it was still spelled as "newbie", and people used more politically correct expressions such as "computer illiterate").

    [/quote]

    I've never heard of the word 'lammer' (perhaps you mean lamer?). And newbie is STILL spelt newbie.



  • I'm trying to figure out what's the bigger WTF, a guy selling computer training who doesn't use BCC or a guy who hits Reply To All without looking. Or Gmail allowing you send out to a couple hundred addresses at once without any warning.



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    It's been three days and I'm still receiving a lot of trash email telling me that some nameless joe couldn't get my message. And it seems like I'm not the only one, there are people among those contacts asking everybody else to stop sending so many emails to them. Repeatedly.

    [/quote] Welcome to Bedlam - brewing up automated e-mail storms is a perennial classic. At 250 recipients, this is not that bad - see this for a story about a *big* storm, a few years back: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2004/04/08/109626.aspx


  • @Flatline said:

    I've never heard of the word 'lammer'

    A lammer is a user of LAMs.

    [url=http://deusex.wikia.com/index.php?title=LAM&image=Lamw-png][img]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080920165932/deusex/en/images/b/bf/Lamw.png[/img][/url]



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    I wonder how long it would take to fill someone's inbox if some kind of automated response (like the one GMail uses when you tell it you're on vacation) were at work. "can't get your email" - "I'm on holidays, will reply in a few days" - "can't get your email" ad infinitum.

    [/quote]

    When I left college, I set my student email account to forward all my incoming email to..... myself :-)



    Apparently, a few days later, they'd rammed some extra hard drive space into it. Twice.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]There was a time when using a computer meant using Windows, the expression "user friendly" was heard as frequently as "Rayleigh dispersion"

    I had a Classic Mac, you insensitive clod![/quote]Did yours boot from 3.5" floppy?



  • A lammer is the little transparent plastic disc used in casinos to separate stacks of chips in the rack.



  • @hoodaticus said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]There was a time when using a computer meant using Windows, the expression "user friendly" was heard as frequently as "Rayleigh dispersion"

    I had a Classic Mac, you insensitive clod!

    Did yours boot from 3.5" floppy?

    [/quote]

    IIRC, it was a Mac SE/30 with the 4 MB memory expansion and a 20 MB HD. (Not sure on the HD size... but it definitely had one. Aftermarket.)



  • @Flatline said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    *Notice that I'm using the word "lammers" because that was so long ago that the term "noob" hadn't been invented yet (it was still spelled as "newbie", and people used more politically correct expressions such as "computer illiterate").

    I've never heard of the word 'lammer' (perhaps you mean lamer?). And newbie is STILL spelt newbie.[/quote]

    "Newbie" has always been "newbie", but I was refering to the word "noob", which merged in meaning with "newbie" somewhere in time. Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.[/quote]

    I've seen "the" spelled "teh", that doesn't make it correct.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.

    I've seen "the" spelled "teh", that doesn't make it correct.[/quote]

    Or "sandwich" spelled "sammich".



  • @derula said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.

    I've seen "the" spelled "teh", that doesn't make it correct.

    Or "sandwich" spelled "sammich".[/quote]

    Hold on! Sammich??? Us'n's here 'Merkins, we's spells 'em "sammidge"!



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    I wonder how long it would take to fill someone's inbox if some kind of automated response (like the one GMail uses when you tell it you're on vacation) were at work. "can't get your email" - "I'm on holidays, will reply in a few days" - "can't get your email" ad infinitum.[/quote] 

     

    Minutes. If you are lucky.

    Thankfully, most automated response handlers detect automated responses and do not reply in kind. But it only takes two lame ones!



  • @robbak said:

    ... it only takes two lamme ones!

    FTFY



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.[/quote] 

    In a word with a "long" vowel sound, like that made by the "a" in "lamer", doubling the following consonant usually shortens the vowel sound. Therefore, if you pronounce it to rhyme with "gamer" or "flamer" (which would be natural, since it's derived from "lame") it needs to be spelled "lamer". Spelling it "lammer" causes the expected pronunciation to change, to make it rhyme with "spammer" or "jammer". This is one of the basic rules of English spelling and pronunciation, though I wouldn't expect you to know that if you're not a native English speaker.

    The Real WTF is that English breaks its own rules all the time, including this one.



  • @Someone You Know said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.

     

    In a word with a "long" vowel sound, like that made by the "a" in "lamer", doubling the following consonant usually shortens the vowel sound. Therefore, if you pronounce it to rhyme with "gamer" or "flamer" (which would be natural, since it's derived from "lame") it needs to be spelled "lamer". Spelling it "lammer" causes the expected pronunciation to change, to make it rhyme with "spammer" or "jammer". This is one of the basic rules of English spelling and pronunciation, though I wouldn't expect you to know that if you're not a native English speaker.

    The Real WTF is that English breaks its own rules all the time, including this one.

    [/quote]

    Actually I've never even heard the word. When I was a teenager we didn't have enough bandwidth to play online games with VoIP on... We actually didn't even have VoIP solutions, like Skype. So all the cursing and swearing and complaining that someone else was hacking or incompetent was done textually.

    I'm grateful that you helped me out with the pronnouncing rules, and I take from your post and others' that the correct spelling takes only one 'm'.



  • Stop! Lammer time!





  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]@Someone You Know said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.

     

    In a word with a "long" vowel sound, like that made by the "a" in "lamer", doubling the following consonant usually shortens the vowel sound. Therefore, if you pronounce it to rhyme with "gamer" or "flamer" (which would be natural, since it's derived from "lame") it needs to be spelled "lamer". Spelling it "lammer" causes the expected pronunciation to change, to make it rhyme with "spammer" or "jammer". This is one of the basic rules of English spelling and pronunciation, though I wouldn't expect you to know that if you're not a native English speaker.

    The Real WTF is that English breaks its own rules all the time, including this one.

    [/quote]

    Actually I've never even heard the word. When I was a teenager we didn't have enough bandwidth to play online games with VoIP on... We actually didn't even have VoIP solutions, like Skype. So all the cursing and swearing and complaining that someone else was hacking or incompetent was done textually.

    I'm grateful that you helped me out with the pronnouncing rules, and I take from your post and others' that the correct spelling takes only one 'm'.

    [/quote]

    Warcraft 2, back when I played it in 1997 or so over AOL, used Mac's text-to-speech to speak out chat comments. VOIP is for wimps! This is back before the Windows version even had TCP/IP support.

    And Marathon had VOAT (Voice Over AppleTalk) back in 1994. We didn't have a ton of video games, but man they were advanced.



  • @Someone You Know said:

    This is one of the basic rules of English spelling and pronunciation, though I wouldn't expect you to know that if you're not a native English speaker.
    Even as a foreigner myself, I know that for a very long timme.



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]@Flatline said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    *Notice that I'm using the word "lammers" because that was so long ago that the term "noob" hadn't been invented yet (it was still spelled as "newbie", and people used more politically correct expressions such as "computer illiterate").

    I've never heard of the word 'lammer' (perhaps you mean lamer?). And newbie is STILL spelt newbie.[/quote]

    "Newbie" has always been "newbie", but I was refering to the word "noob", which merged in meaning with "newbie" somewhere in time. Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.[/quote]

    From my experience, and I've been online since the BBS days, noob and newbie never really meant the same thing and I've never heard of "lammer", only "lamer" and "llama". From your OP it sounds like you are talking about computer illiterates which would not be lamers but newbies - someone new to something. For me the term "lamer" was used in the days before internet for wanna-be hackers or pirates or similar. Basically, someone that claimed they had skillz but didn't really. I first started hearing "noob" when online multiplayer gaming started becoming easy enough for all the 12-year olds to figure out and was usually used by them in the same context as we used "lamer", but in reality they were actually the noobs. Eventually it caught on and everyone started using it.

    So, to sum it up, in my experience:

    "computer illiterate" == "newbie", "newbie" != "noob", "noob" == "lamer", "lamer" != "computer illiterate"

    My two cents, YMMV.



  • @error_NoError said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]@Flatline said:
    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    *Notice that I'm using the word "lammers" because that was so long ago that the term "noob" hadn't been invented yet (it was still spelled as "newbie", and people used more politically correct expressions such as "computer illiterate").

    I've never heard of the word 'lammer' (perhaps you mean lamer?). And newbie is STILL spelt newbie.

    "Newbie" has always been "newbie", but I was refering to the word "noob", which merged in meaning with "newbie" somewhere in time. Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.[/quote]

    From my experience, and I've been online since the BBS days, noob and newbie never really meant the same thing and I've never heard of "lammer", only "lamer" and "llama". From your OP it sounds like you are talking about computer illiterates which would not be lamers but newbies - someone new to something. For me the term "lamer" was used in the days before internet for wanna-be hackers or pirates or similar. Basically, someone that claimed they had skillz but didn't really. I first started hearing "noob" when online multiplayer gaming started becoming easy enough for all the 12-year olds to figure out and was usually used by them in the same context as we used "lamer", but in reality they were actually the noobs. Eventually it caught on and everyone started using it.

    So, to sum it up, in my experience:

    "computer illiterate" == "newbie", "newbie" != "noob", "noob" == "lamer", "lamer" != "computer illiterate"

    My two cents, YMMV.

    [/quote]

    I think it's a culture thing. When I hear the word "noob" it usually means someone who's new to something. Exactly like "newbie", the difference being that "noob" is derogatory. It's like the difference between "programmer" and "code monkey", I think. In MMORPG's I've seen people using the term "noob" as if it meant "someone who's got less levels than me/us", even when the "noob" had more gaming experience than the one calling him so.



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    I think it's a culture thing. When I hear the word "noob" it usually means someone who's new to something. Exactly like "newbie", the difference being that "noob" is derogatory.[/quote]

    And "newbie" isn't?



  • @blakeyrat said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]

    I think it's a culture thing. When I hear the word "noob" it usually means someone who's new to something. Exactly like "newbie", the difference being that "noob" is derogatory.

    And "newbie" isn't?[/quote] 

    In my experience, "newbie" can go either way, but "noob" is only negative. I would refer to myself as a "newbie" in certain areas, but never a "noob".

    Then again, I never say "noob" anyway because I'm not 12 years old, so maybe this post isn't very useful.



  •  *chimes in on the linguistics discussion*

    I'd say 'newbie' is comparable to 'rookie', i.e. someone who's new at some particular field. Not necessarily derogatory, therefore (although of course the phrase "you're such a newbie/rookie" is definitely meant as such).

    A "n00b" - at least to my ears - describes someone that should know better, but despite him or herself doesn't. E.g., someone who's just bought their first computer would be considered a 'newbie', but someone who's had one for 10 years and STILL refers to a missing IE icon as "the internet is gone" is a 'n00b'. Hence, more derogatory: someone with experience, but still just the skills of a beginner, implying he or she is dumb.



  • @Someone You Know said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.

     

    In a word with a "long" vowel sound, like that made by the "a" in "lamer", doubling the following consonant usually shortens the vowel sound. Therefore, if you pronounce it to rhyme with "gamer" or "flamer" (which would be natural, since it's derived from "lame") it needs to be spelled "lamer". Spelling it "lammer" causes the expected pronunciation to change, to make it rhyme with "spammer" or "jammer".

    [/quote] Err, true, but you've entirely missed the point.  "Lammer" is one of those deliberate-humorous internet misspeelings, just like "luser" and "teh" and "blag" and "intartoobs".  It's had an urban dictionary entry since 2003, I'm surprised nobody here is familiar with it and also a bit surprised that y'all can't just intuitively recognize it for what it means on first seeing it; you're surely familiar with plenty of similar examples already.




  • @DaveK said:

    @Someone You Know said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Also, I've seen "lamer" with both spellings.

     

    In a word with a "long" vowel sound, like that made by the "a" in "lamer", doubling the following consonant usually shortens the vowel sound. Therefore, if you pronounce it to rhyme with "gamer" or "flamer" (which would be natural, since it's derived from "lame") it needs to be spelled "lamer". Spelling it "lammer" causes the expected pronunciation to change, to make it rhyme with "spammer" or "jammer".

    Err, true, but you've entirely missed the point.  "Lammer" is one of those deliberate-humorous internet misspeelings, just like "luser" and "teh" and "blag" and "intartoobs".  It's had an urban dictionary entry since 2003, I'm surprised nobody here is familiar with it and also a bit surprised that y'all can't just intuitively recognize it for what it means on first seeing it; you're surely familiar with plenty of similar examples already.


    [/quote]

    For my part I deliberately didn't recognise it because it was misspelt. Urban Dictionary is unmoderated and unverified and as such a worse source of valid information than Wikipedia. If it was as widespread as you insist more than you and the OP would have heard of it.



  • @DaveK said:

    Err, true, but you've entirely missed the point.  "Lammer" is one of those deliberate-humorous internet misspeelings, just like "luser" and "teh" and "blag" and "intartoobs".  It's had an urban dictionary entry since 2003, I'm surprised nobody here is familiar with it and also a bit surprised that y'all can't just intuitively recognize it for what it means on first seeing it; you're surely familiar with plenty of similar examples already.

    Actually, "luser" isn't as much of a deliberate misspelling as it is a portmanteau of "loser" and "user". When used appropriately, it is meant to describe loser users (which may or may not be typical users), not just any kind of loser. [url=http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/l/luser.html]Jargon file entry[/url].



  • @Xyro said:

    Actually, "luser" isn't as much of a deliberate misspelling as it is a portmanteau of "loser" and "user". When used appropriately, it is meant to describe loser users (which may or may not be typical users), not just any kind of loser. Jargon file entry.

    In a popular Dutch blog I frequent they use "lutser" a lot. It's a combinaton of "loser" and "prutser" (dutch for "incompetent person")



  • Prutser is a such a nice word.

    It inspires images of a toddler ensuring his food is dispersed equally in all directions.



  • @dhromed said:

    Prutser is a such a nice word.

    It inspires images of a toddler ensuring his food is dispersed equally in all directions.

    Putzer

Log in to reply