[prob. originated in skateboarder slang]
1. Synonym for luser, not used much by hackers but common
among warez d00dz, crackers, and phreakers. A person who
downloads much, but who never uploads. (Also known as `leecher').
Oppose elite. Has the same connotations of self-conscious
elitism that use of luser does among hackers. 2. Someone who
tries to crack a BBS. 3. Someone who annoys the sysop or other BBS
users - for instance, by posting lots of silly messages, uploading
virus-ridden software, frequently dropping carrier, etc.
Crackers also use it to refer to cracker wannabees. In phreak
culture, a lamer is one who scams codes off others rather than
doing cracks or really understanding the fundamental concepts. In
warez d00dz culture, where the ability to wave around cracked
commercial software within days of (or before) release to the
commercial market is much esteemed, the lamer might try to upload
garbage or shareware or something incredibly old (old in this
context is read as a few years to anything older than 3
days).
`Lamer' is also much used in the IRC world in a similar sense to
the above.
