The slang term newbie (also spelled n00b, noob, or nub in leetspeak) means a newcomer to a particular corner of cyberspace, such as a game, newsgroup, the World Wide Web itself, or an operating system. It can be both a disparaging and friendly term, always referring to a neophyte. The word itself is likely a corruption of new boy, the equivalent figure in real life — usually observed as a new arrival in a school and who is, therefore, vulnerable to bullying of various kinds. On Google's Usenet archive, the word first appears in 1988 [1]. The term was used prior to this as slang in the U.S. Military to denote men who had finished technical school and were just arriving to their first permanent assignment.

The words newbie and n00b are sometimes differentiated. If they are, a newbie is someone who follows all protocols and essentially acts like an established user, while a n00b is an obnoxious person who has not even considered that they might be irritating others. A stereotype is that they all type in internet shorthand, which is sometimes known as "AOLer" or "AOL-speak."

There are numerous spelling variations, usually substituting different letters for the vowel sounds and dropping the second syllable (newb, noob, nub). Different spellings may carry different connotations within a particular community, but in general the spelling does not affect the meaning. In practice, differences in interpretation tend to depend more on context than on spelling.

Negative connotations

In a group, the term newbie is often used for a new user who asks allegedly dumb questions (typically questions which are clearly answered in a list of rules or frequently asked questions) and whose behavior does not conform to the accepted standards of the community (often to the point of rudeness), to the consternation or amusement of the old hands. Due to their inexperience, these newcomers are sometimes picked on and may not feel welcome. If they are friendly, they tend to learn more and stay; if not friendly, they tend to be "kicked out" or ostracized.

In some groups, the term is used by the regulars (sometimes called "regs") against any newcomer, whether the newcomer acts ignorantly or not. In this case, the regulars assert their position using what basically amounts to the internet equivalent of hazing.

Referring to regular members as newbies is often considered to be highly insulting. The implication is that they are behaving as if they do not know the rules when in fact they have had more than sufficient opportunity to learn them.

In some MMPORGs a newbie is anyone who is lower-leveled than the person making the remark, regardless of actual time spent playing the game. (for example, a level 60 player in World of Warcraft may consider a level 30 player a newbie).

Positive connotations

In other communities, newbies are received with extra attention. Some chat rooms, for example, have established rules to ask "oldies" to first answer the newbies' questions or concerns before resuming their ongoing discussions.

Other communities do not treat newbies with a significantly elevated status, but do greet most of the friendly newbies with welcomes informing them the methods to get help.

In these situations, the term is basically synonymous with newcomer and is meant with or without affection.

The positive interpretation is probably the more recent but has become quite common. The only way to determine the intended connotation is to examine the context.

Individuals may refer to themselves as newbies in a self-deprecating manner or in acknowledgement of their newcomer status, which may (or may not) lessen the amount of harassment they receive. This may have negative or a positive connotations, depending on the standards of the community.

Noob or n00b

A noob, n00b, nub, or übern00b is a newbie who claims to know a lot about a subject, but really does not. They often show off their false skills to gain a reputation. The term is usually meant to be offensive. It was first used in hacker groups on the BBS chat systems in the 1970s. It is important to note that noob and newb are not necessarily interchangeable.

The spelling noob or n00b, while originally having a specific meaning, is now generally used to refer to all forms of newbies, usually in a joking manner. In a context where newbie means simply new, n00b may sometimes be used as the derogatory equivalent.

In online gaming, the term is also often used as a general insult. Frustrated players on the losing term may refer to the winning team as noobs. In this case, there is no actual connotation of newness meant, the word is simply being used as an insult.

Noob Talk

An underground "joke", is "Noob talk" or "NOB TAKL", it is when one uses harsh spelling mistakes and terrible punctuation to insult noobies. Alot of "real" noob talk is found in such games as Gunbound or Ragnarok Online, examples of this dialect are "ITAM PLEX" (translated into "Items Please"), noob talk is pretty simple to grasp: you make lots of spelling mistakes and overused abbreviations. You can tell if someone is just kidding when they use noob talk, by adding such words as BBQ after LOL or similar words, and 1111oneone after an exclamation mark.

See also

• Chainik
• Choob
• Luser
• Wannabee