[UK] 1. A lower form of life found on
talker systems and MUDs. The spod has few friends in
RL and uses talkers instead, finding communication easier and
preferable over the net. He has all the negative traits of the
computer geek without having any interest in computers per se.
Lacking any knowledge of or interest in how networks work, and
considering his access a God-given right, he is a major irritant to
sysadmins, clogging up lines in order to reach new MUDs, following
passed-on instructions on how to sneak his way onto Internet
("Wow! It's in America!") and complaining when he is not allowed
to use busy routes. A true spod will start any conversation with
"Are you male or female?" (and follow it up with "Got any good
numbers/IDs/passwords?") and will not talk to someone physically
present in the same terminal room until they log onto the same
machine that he is using and enter talk mode. Compare newbie,
tourist, weenie, twink,
warez d00dz. 2. A backronym for "Sole Purpose, Obtain a
Degree"; according to some self-described spods, this term is used
by indifferent students to condemn their harder-working
fellows. Compare the defiant adoption of the term `geek' in the
mid-1990s by people who would previously have been stigmatized by
it (see computer geek). 3. [obs.] An ordinary person; a
random. This is the meaning with which the term was coined,
but the inventor informs us he has himself accepted sense
1.
