:netdead: /n./ [IRC] The state of someone who signs off {IRC}, perhaps during a {netburp}, and doesn't sign back on until later. In the interim, he is "dead to the net".
:nethack: /net'hak/ /n./ [Unix] A dungeon game similar to {rogue} but more elaborate, distributed in C source over {Usenet} and very popular at Unix sites and on PC-class machines (nethack is probably the most widely distributed of the freeware dungeon games). The earliest versions, written by Jay Fenlason and later considerably enhanced by Andries Brouwer, were simply called `hack'. The name changed when maintenance was taken over by a group of hackers originally organized by Mike Stephenson; the current contact address (as of early 1996) is nethack-bugs@linc.cis.upenn.edu.
:netiquette: /net'ee-ket/ or /net'i-ket/ /n./ [portmanteau from "network etiquette">[ The conventions of politeness recognized on {Usenet}, such as avoidance of cross-posting to inappropriate groups and refraining from commercial pluggery outside the biz groups.
:netlag: /n./ [IRC, MUD] A condition that occurs when the delays in the {IRC} network or on a {MUD} become severe enough that servers briefly lose and then reestablish contact, causing messages to be delivered in bursts, often with delays of up to a minute. (Note that this term has nothing to do with mainstream "jet lag", a condition which hackers tend not to be much bothered by.)
:netnews: /net'n[y]ooz/ /n./ 1. The software that makes {Usenet} run. 2. The content of Usenet. "I read netnews right after my mail most mornings."
:netrock: /net'rok/ /n./ [IBM] A {flame}; used esp. on VNET, IBM's internal corporate network.
:netsplit: /n./ Syn. {netburp}.
:netter: /n./ 1. Loosely, anyone with a {network address}.
2. More specifically, a {Usenet} regular. Most often found in
the plural. "If you post *that* in a technical group, you're
going to be flamed by angry netters for the rest of time!"
:network address: /n./ (also `net address') As used by
hackers, means an address on `the' network (see {network,
the}; this used to include {bang path} addresses but now almost
always implies an {{Internet address}}).
Display of a network address is essential if one wants to be to be taken seriously by hackers; in particular, persons or organizations that claim to understand, work with, sell to, or recruit from among hackers but *don't* display net addresses are quietly presumed to be clueless poseurs and mentally flushed (see {flush}, sense 4). Hackers often put their net addresses on their business cards and wear them prominently in contexts where they expect to meet other hackers face-to-face (see also {{science-fiction fandom}}). This is mostly functional, but is also a signal that one identifies with hackerdom (like lodge pins among Masons or tie-dyed T-shirts among Grateful Dead fans). Net addresses are often used in email text as a more concise substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to know each other quite well by network names without ever learning each others' `legal' monikers. See also {sitename}, {domainist}.