We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Turing test

technical A Turing Test is a test which determines if the party on the other end of a remote communication is a human or a computer program (also known as a ‘Captcha‘ (qv)).

This is germane to blogging because many comment sections on blogs use non-machine readable systems prevent spambots from entering comment spam.

Trackback

1. noun. A system by which a ping (qv) is sent to another trackback-aware website (usually another blog) to notify that site that a link to them has been made (usually within an article being posted). The objective is to notify the subject of an article that they have been mentioned in another article elsewhere.

2. verb. To follow a trackback ping from the target weblog to the source weblog.

Thread

noun. A series of remarks posted by people in a public comment section of a blog that follow a conversational and topic related sequence.

Whilst used on blogs to describe related comments under a single blog article, this term is more specifically and accurately associated with on-line forums, many of which use a ‘threaded’ format that indents related digressions from the main ‘conversation’ in a branching manner, making it more clear to which previous comment a person it replying. Although some blog-forum hybrids also use this ‘threaded’ format within their public comments section, the term is more commonly associated with forums rather than blogs.

usage: “A blog article by Mike over on Cold Fury has sparked off an interesting thread with people arguing about the merits of private firearms ownership”

Troll

1. verb. To troll for hits is to post a provocative article purely in order to generate an angry response (usually followed by sending a mass e-mail shot to the target audience) and commensurate increase in hit rate.

2. noun. A person who trolls.

Usage: “Justin Raymondo has just trolled the Warbloggers again.”

‘Troll’ is usually used as an epithet and the term is widely used in this sense in newsgroups and e-lists as well as blogs.

Tech blog

noun. A blog (qv) focused on a technical subject. A high proportion of tech blogs are also groupblogs (qv). Also: Techblog.

Tech blogs form one of the three primary distinct (and largely separate) cultural groups within the blogging world, the other two being Journal blogs and Pundit blogs.

Take down

verb. Similar to ‘Fisk’ (qv). A point by point refutation.

Tranzi

noun. Derived from ‘Transnational Progressive’, a term popularised by John Fonte. Transnational Socialists. Not a term of endearment.

(coined by David Carr)