(also, more plausibly, spelled wannabe) [from a term recently used to
describe Madonna fans who dress, talk, and act like their idol;
prob.: originally from biker slang] A would-be {hacker}. The
connotations of this term differ sharply depending on the age and
exposure of the subject. Used of a person who is in or might be
entering {larval stage}, it is semi-approving; such wannabees can be
annoying but most hackers remember that they, too, were once such
creatures. When used of any professional programmer, CS academic,
writer, or {suit}, it is derogatory, implying that said person is
trying to cuddle up to the hacker mystique but doesn't,
fundamentally, have a prayer of understanding what it is all about.
Overuse of terms from this lexicon is often an indication of the
{wannabee} nature. Compare {newbie}.
Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a slightly different
flavor now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the
people who are now hackerdom's tribal elders were in {larval stage},
the process of becoming a hacker was largely unconscious and
unaffected by models known in popular culture -- communities formed
spontaneously around people who, as individuals, felt irresistibly
drawn to do hackerly things, and what wannabees experienced was a
fairly pure, skill-focused desire to become similarly wizardly. Those
days of innocence are gone forever; society's adaptation to the
advent of the microcomputer after 1980 included the elevation of the
hacker as a new kind of folk hero, and the result is that some people
semi-consciously set out to be hackers and borrow hackish prestige by
fitting the popular image of hackers. Fortunately, to do this really
well, one has to actually become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time
hackers tend to share a poorly articulated disquiet about the change;
among other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of
public compendia of lore like this one.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {bit bang}{cyberspace}{geek}{ha ha only serious}{hacker}{lamer}{larval stage}{mudhead}{munchkin}{poser}{terminal junkie}{wannabee}{warez d00dz}]