Luser

Before the popularization of the Internet in the 1990s, <a href="/facts/Internet_slang/o1XPvDbz">Internet slang</a> defined a luser (sometimes expanded to local user; also luzer or luzzer) as a painfully annoying, stupid, or irritating <a href="/facts/Computer_user/zQRzG0KG">computer user</a>.
The word is a <a href="/facts/Blend_word/3bRveURF">blend</a> of "loser" and "user". Among <a href="/facts/Hacker_(programmer_subculture)/8ww6P79y">hackers</a>, the word luser takes on a broad meaning, referring to any normal <a href="/facts/User_(computing)/zQRzG0KG">user</a> (in other words, not a "<a href="/facts/Expert/W1BtG3h1">guru</a>"), with the implication the person is also a <a href="/facts/Loser_(person)/UId8vPsx">loser</a>. The term is partially interchangeable with the hacker term <a href="/facts/Lamer/Vjfbn45u">lamer</a>. 
The term can also signify a <a href="/facts/Layman/e14DRlog">layman</a> with only <a href="/facts/User_(computing)/zQRzG0KG">user</a> account <a href="/facts/Privilege_(computing)/7eS1wna4">privileges</a>, as opposed to a <a href="/facts/Power_user/DpzdFQ32">power user</a> or <a href="/facts/Superuser/0Brr6ol7">administrator</a>, who has knowledge of, and access to, <a href="/facts/Superuser/0Brr6ol7">superuser</a> accounts; for example, an <a href="/facts/End-user_(computer_science)/7IM9qu7N">end luser</a> who cannot be trusted with a root account for <a href="/facts/System_administration/zNhThrh9">system administration</a>. It is popular with technical support staff who have to deal with lusers as part of their job, often metaphorically employing a LART (Luser Attitude Readjustment Tool, also known as a clue-by-four, cluestick, or cluebat), meaning turning off the user's access to computer resources and the like.

Luser open-in-new

Luser