BIFF
Encyclopedia
BIFF, later sometimes B1FF, was a pseudonym
on, and the prototypical newbie
of, Usenet
. BIFF was created as and taken up as a satire of a partly amusing, partly annoying, mostly unwelcome intrusion into a then fairly rarefied community.
Versions have since been posted for the amusement of the net at large.
The explosive growth of the web led to the rapid decline of BIFF, as Biffisms became no longer exceptional and the internet rapidly became a much larger much more heterogeneous environment, leading both to newcomers not being aware of BIFF's existence and to BIFF becoming less contrasting as an exception in the increasingly "noisy" internet.
Beyond apparently inspiring the naming and style of the precursor to leet
, BIFFisms continue to be seen today in many internet forums and comment threads, both in direct posts and in deliberate ironic imitation. Every internet user who has used leetspeek ironically ("the ph34r!") or mocked pre-teen gamers or IRCers ("OMG WTF!!!1eleven11 kthxbye") is essentially using a modernised BIFF. BIFF, like Eliza Doolittle
, appears to be a specifically created yet immediately classic shibboleth
of some fundamental human behaviour, on the part of both the parodied and the parodying.
mailing list digest 775-06:
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
on, and the prototypical newbie
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
of, Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
. BIFF was created as and taken up as a satire of a partly amusing, partly annoying, mostly unwelcome intrusion into a then fairly rarefied community.
Origin
BIFF was originally created by Joe Talmadge, also the author of the "Flamer's Bible" (1987), but after two postings as that character he abandoned it. It was Richard Sexton who posted BIFFisms much more widely, and was credited by Talmadge as popularising BIFF.Richard Sexton:
I make no claim to inventing BIFF. Blame Joe Talmadge. Joe wasn't too busy one year at HP and invented a whole cast of characters such as SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR MAN, Bobby Joe (Dedicated WobegonA Prairie Home CompanionA Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
listener), Joe Supportive (soc.singles reader for 1.5 years) and of course the big bad BIFFSTER. ...
Joe Talmadge:
Oh. Hey. Don't blame me. It's Webber's fault.
Anyway, I may have invented BIFF, but Richard made him famous. Richard is the Roy Crock of BIFF; meanwhile, I fade quietly into
obscurity.
Versions have since been posted for the amusement of the net at large.
Richard Sexton:
I posted a few BIFF articles from my account at gryphon, but now there are about 20 people, well connected, posting BIFF forgeries. You probably don't want to hear that the people doing them had to find something to occupy themselves after they dissolved the backbone cabalBackbone cabalThe backbone cabal was an informal organization of large-site administrators of the worldwide distributed Internet discussion system Usenet. It existed from about 1983 at least into the 2000s....
.
Cultural significance and later decline
BIFF served as a satire of an exceptional behaviour in a fairly homogeneous environment.The explosive growth of the web led to the rapid decline of BIFF, as Biffisms became no longer exceptional and the internet rapidly became a much larger much more heterogeneous environment, leading both to newcomers not being aware of BIFF's existence and to BIFF becoming less contrasting as an exception in the increasingly "noisy" internet.
Continued existence
In the sense of caricaturing the prototypical pre-adolescent or over-self-confident noob on the net, BIFF's legacy lives on, in practice if not in name.Beyond apparently inspiring the naming and style of the precursor to leet
Leet
Leet , also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters...
, BIFFisms continue to be seen today in many internet forums and comment threads, both in direct posts and in deliberate ironic imitation. Every internet user who has used leetspeek ironically ("the ph34r!") or mocked pre-teen gamers or IRCers ("OMG WTF!!!1eleven11 kthxbye") is essentially using a modernised BIFF. BIFF, like Eliza Doolittle
Pygmalion (play)
Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
, appears to be a specifically created yet immediately classic shibboleth
Shibboleth
A shibboleth is a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important...
of some fundamental human behaviour, on the part of both the parodied and the parodying.
An example Biffism
This was posted on the Usenet OracleInternet Oracle
The Internet Oracle is an effort at collective humor in a pseudo-Socratic question-and-answer format....
mailing list digest 775-06:
The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply. Your question was:
> Oh great oracle,
>
> what do you do with a supplicant who leaves his .sig at
> the end of his questions?
> --
> --
And in response, thus spake the Oracle:
} WHAT R U TALK1N' ABOUT MAN? SIGZ ROOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
}
} LATER MAN.
}
} BIFF.
}
} --
} BBBBBBBBBBBBB IIIIIIIII FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
} BBBBBBBBBBBBBB IIIIIIIII FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
} BBB BBB III FFF FFF
} BBB BBB III FFF FFF
} BBB BBB III FFF FFF
} BBBBBBBBBBBBB III FFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFF
} BBBBBBBBBBBBBB III FFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFF
} BBB BBB III FFF FFF
} BBB BBB III FFF FFF
} BBB BBB III FFF FFF
} BBBBBBBBBBBBB IIIIIIIII FFF FFF
} BIFF@BIT.NET BBBBBBBBBBBB IIIIIIIII FFF FFF BIFF@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
} BIFF@BIFFVM.BIT.NET BIFF+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU
} B1FF@AOL.COM B1FF@DELPHI.COM B1FF@PRODIGY.COM B1FF@COMU$ERVE.COM
} B1FF@NETCOM.COM B1FF@WORLD.STD.COM B1FF@MCS.COM
} B1FF@B1FFNET.FIDONET.ORG B1FF@WELL.SF.CA.US
} B1FF@ATHENA.MIT.EDU B1FF@CYBER.SELL.COM
} BIFF@MSN.COM
}
} MY SIG /^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\ WAITING
} CAN BEAT !@@@@@@NUKULAR@@@@@@@@! 4
} UP YOUR ------------------------- ARMAGEDIN
} SIG !@@@@@@@@BIFF@@@@@@@@@! IT"LL B
} !!! \--------! !--------/ AWESOME!!!!
} ! !
} --------- THIS SPACE 4 RENT CALL BIFF
} /\\\ ! ! HA HA FOOLED YOU!!!
} ||| / \
} /-\
} /----/-\------------------------------------------------------------\
} | BIFF|@|AOL.DELPHI.PRODIGY.COMPU$ERVE.NETCOM.WORLD.MSN.B1FF.EDU DUDE!>
} \----\-/------------------------------------------------------------/
} \-/
} |-| BANG THE FALSE METAL HEAD THAT DUZZN"T DRINK BEER!!!
} \/// HOT METAL TUBS RULE IN A MAJOR WAY DUDEZ!!!
}
} __________ __________ ___________ ___________ __
} / /\ / /| / /| / /| / /
} / / \ / // / // / // / /|
} ********** / **********/ ***********/ ***********/ ** |
} ** |____** / ** ** |______ ** |______ ** |
} ** / ** ** ** / /| ** / /| ** |
} **/ **/ \ ** ** / // ** / // ** |
} **********/ / ** *********/ *********/ ** /
} ** |____** // __**______ ** | ** | **/
} ** / **/ / ** /| ** | ** | / /|
} **/ **/ / ** // ** / ** / ** /
} **********/ **********/ **/ **/ **/
}
} BIFF@BIT.NET BIFF@PSUVM.PSU.EDU BIFF@BIFFVM.BIT.NET BIFF+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU
} B1FF@AOL.COM B1FF@DELPHI.COM B1FF@PRODIGY.COM B1FF@COMU$ERVE.COM
} B1FF@NETCOM.COM B1FF@WORLD.STD.COM B1FF@MCS.COM
} B1FF@B1FFNET.FIDONET.ORG B1FF@WELL.SF.CA.US
} B1FF@ATHENA.MIT.EDU B1FF@CYBER.SELL.COM
} BIFF@MSN.COM
}
} K0M1NG S00N T0 THEATREZ NEER U!!!!!!
} _______ _______*_______ _______ _______ _______ _______ __ __
} +. /____ //______//______//______/ /______/ /____ / /______//_/ /_/
} ` _____/ / __ _____ . _____ , __ _____/ / ______ ____
} , / ___ _/. / / . / ___/ '/ ___/ +. / / / _ __/ / ___/ / /
} / /__/ | __/ /__ / / . , / / , . / / / / \ \ / /___ / /\ \
} /______/ /______//_/ * + /_/ *, ` ,/_/ /_/ \_\ /______//_/ \_\
}
} FEETUR1NG THE GRATE B1FF1NSK1 AS C4PTA1N B1FF!!!!!!
}
} B1FF 4RUOND TH4 W3RLD!!!!!
} .
} _--_|\
} P3RTH--> / \<--SIND3Y
} \_.--._/
} v<---B1FFSM4NIA!!!!!!!
}
} ___ (_)
} _/XXX\
} /XXXXXX\_ <-- MT. B1FF1NGT0N __
} __ __ /X XXXX XX\ MT. K1BO (SHORT3R _ /XX\__ ___
} \__/ \_/__ \ \ TH4N B1FF'Z) ----> _/X\__ /XX XXX\____/XXX\
} \ ___ \/ \_ \ \ __ _/ \_/ _/ - __ -
} __/ \__/ \ \__ \\__ / \_// _ _ \ \ __ / \____
} __ \ / \ \_ _//_\___ _/ // \___/ \/ __/
} /_______\________\__\_/________\_ _/_____/_____________/_______\____/___
} /|\
} / | \ _____ _____
} / | \ \ V /
} THE RO4D T0 B1FFN3SS!!!! / | \ | R00T |
} / | \ | 666 | +---------+
} ALL MUST TR4V3L 1T / | \ \___ ___/ | B1FF |
} / | \ V | R00LZ!! |
} SUMD4Y!!!!!!!! / | \ | o +---------+
} / | \ | o
} / | \ | |\__/| .~ ~.
} / | \ | /o=o'`./ .'
} / | | {o__, \ {
} / | / . . ) \
} / | `-` '-' \ }
} | .( _( )_.'
} | '---.~_ _ _|