Hang When a modem fails to hang up.

Holy war Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith, about which one cannot disagree without setting one of these off. For example: IBM PCs are inherently superior to Macintoshes.

Host system A public-access site; provides Net access to people outside the research and government community.

IMHO In My Humble Opinion.

Internet A worldwide system for linking smaller computer networks together. Networks connected through the Internet use a particular set of communications standards to communicate, known as TCP/IP.

Killfile A file that lets you filter Usenet postings to some extent, by excluding messages on certain topics or from certain people.

Log on/log in Connect to a host system or public-access site.

Log off Disconnect from a host system.

Lurk Read messages in a Usenet newsgroup without ever saying anything.

Mailing list Essentially a conference in which messages are delivered right to your mailbox, instead of to a Usenet newsgroup. You get on these by sending a message to a specific e- mail address, which is often that of a computer that automates the process.