/bif/ (Or "B1FF", from
Usenet) The most famous
pseudo, and
the prototypical
newbie. Articles from
BIFF are
characterised by all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally
with bangs, typos, "cute" misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD
OLD
BIFF CUZ HE'S A K00L DOOD AN HE RITES REEL AWESUM THINGZ
IN CAPITULL LETTRS LIKE THIS!!!), use (and often misuse) of
fragments of
chat abbreviations, a long
sig block
(sometimes even a
doubled sig), and unbounded naivete.
BIFF
posts articles using his elder brother's VIC-20. BIFF's
location is a mystery, as his articles appear to come from a
variety of sites. However,
BITNET seems to be the most
frequent origin. The theory that
BIFF is a denizen of BITNET
is supported by BIFF's (unfortunately invalid) {electronic
mail address}: <
BIFF@BIT.NET>.
[
1993: Now It Can Be Told! My spies inform me that BIFF was
originally created by Joe Talmadge <jat@cup.hp.com>, also the
author of the infamous and much-plagiarised "Flamer's Bible".
The BIFF filter he wrote was later passed to Richard Sexton,
who posted BIFFisms much more widely. Versions have since
been posted for the amusement of the net at large. - ESR]
[
Jargon File]
(1997-09-22)