spod
 n.

    [UK]

    1. A lower form of life found on talker systems and MUDs. 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. 2. An experienced talker user. As with the defiant
    adoption of the term geek in the mid-1990s by people who would previously
    have been stigmatized by it, the term ?spod? is now used as a mark of
    distinction by talker users who've accumulated a large amount of login
    time. Such spods tend to be very knowledgeable about talkers and talker
    coding, as well as more general hacker activites. An unusually high
    proportion of spods work in the ISP sector, a profession which allows for
    lengthy periods of login time and for under-the-desk servers, or ?spodhosts
    ?, upon which talker systems are hosted. 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.

    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

    (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)