Talk:BIFF

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MOVED ACROSS FROM ORIGINAL LOCATION: Talk:B1FF


I seem to remember reading that the Unix command "biff" which notifies the user of new mail was inspired by B1FF. I was going to add it to the article, but I'm really not sure. Does anyone else know? --cprompt 23:16, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)

No, biff pre-dates B1FF by many many years. biff was named after a dog which barked very loud whenever the post was delivered. --anonymous_coward

Should all of those really be "BIFF" - or "B1FF"? --sv 23:16, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I'm confused. The tag states the document came from FOLDOC, yet the text is visible in an unwikified form on the Jargon File. Chris 21:41, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)

FOLDOC copies a lot of material from the Jargon File. The actual FOLDOC entries say (Jargon File) on them. DopefishJustin (・∀・) 23:27, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)

Much of this article seems to be a direct copy of this. Jimbobbob 03:18, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

ESR typically has no problem with people redistributing the Jargon File - in fact, you can find (typically out-of-date) mirrors around the Interweb. Chris 06:23, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)
True. Bear in mind also that Eric was one of the founding fathers of the OSS movement which actually led to such collaborative projects as wikipedia and the widespread uptake of RLS's GPL. Everyone with a liking for what we now regard as ordinary community undertakings on the web should have a read through his great little essay recounting the key moment in turning the idea from geek meme to mainstream mindset: Revenge of the Hackers
Saltation (talk) 00:01, 6 December 2007 (UTC)


I've done a major overhaul. Key points:

  • content upgrade: de-vandalisation, references, details, restructure, rewriting
  • moved from B1FF to BIFF: B1FF was only much later and only occasionally used for BIFF.
  • consequent shufflings of various existing redirects, various accidentally related articles' cross-references, and the disambiguation
  • ideally biff, b1ff, and BIFF should probably all have trailing clarifications, eg biff (email), b1ff (language), BIFF (caricature)
  • i have deleted the tags calling for content review and additional references, since that's what i've done. please whack them back in if you think the result warrants it. bear in mind that due to the adumbral state of the net when BIFF was around and the jokey reputation of the net at the time discouraging academic study, hardcopy references are extremely thin on the ground. perhaps non-existent.

Saltation (talk) 23:56, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

HI THERE!!!! IM BIFF!!!! :-) :-)

MAN I FOUND A NICE LINK UPON A DISCUSSION BETWEEN RICHARD SEXTON AND JOE TALMADGE CONCERNING THE CREATION OF BIFF!!!!!!!!!

THE LINK: http://groups.google.com/group/news.groups/browse_thread/thread/a01025d8dab0f46f/5a8b82cd3ab82959?hl=en&lnk=st&q=%22joe+talmadge%22+BIFF#5a8b82cd3ab82959

IM GOING TO ADD THAT LINK TO THE MAIN ARTICLE!!!!

WIKIPEDIA ROOLZ!!!!!

IM BIFF (talk) 21:21, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Our policies reflect certain principles; understanding these principles is more important than understanding the rules
Our policies reflect certain principles; understanding these principles is more important than understanding the rules
{A well-meaning editor deleted the above (twice), believing it to be vandalism. An easy mistake to make if one is reading too fast in copy-editing/anti-vandalism mode, rather than switching mental gears to fully take on board the contents of the specific article.
However, for one with knowledge of the topic, it is clearly a deliberate tip of the hat to the topic, written in the spirit and style of the original BIFF. A key feature of BIFF is "BIFF forgeries" as acknowledged by "his" creators.
And the discovered/contributed link is not only relevant but truly excellent.
I have reverted appropriately here, and incorporated the discovered link/reference in the main article.} Saltation (talk)
Heh.
Nice link, too.
I've incorporated it and its contents in the topic. Saltation (talk) 01:13, 31 March 2008 (UTC)