A is for…

AFK; a term not exclusive to dAmn, but a common one nonetheless. If someone is AFK, they are not available, or at their computer. It would be appropriate to use the term if a user is going to make a sandwich or some other non computer based activity.

Autocomplete; this is a term used to describe a really neat trick you can use while chatting. If you want to direct your message to one person, type the first few letters of their username and hit the tab key (that’s the one above the capslock, usually marked with one or two arrows). This autocompletes the username.

B is for…

Ban; there are two types of ban to define here, a channel ban and a dAmn ban. A channel ban prevents a user from being able to join and message within the chatroom. A dAmn ban prevents a user from accessing the chat network at all (a banned user will experience a ‘not privileged’ error upon trying to join a chatroom)

Bot; a bot is a software based program that carries out automated tasks within a chatroom. Normally, a bot will log the text being written should it ever need to be read, but a bot can also be programmed to do things such as welcome new users into a chatroom, display trivia questions at certain time periods and so on. Please be advised that deviantART does not support bots, the owner of bots should be contacted should any problems arise.

C is for…

Chatroom; a chatroom is a place where users join in order to experience live, real time talk with other deviants.

Channel; a channel is simply an alternative name for a chatroom.

Core staff; a core staff member refers to someone with a $ next to their username e.g. $Moonbeam13 and $damphyr. These are paid administrators of deviantART.

D is for…

dAmn; dAmn stands for the deviantART Message Network and refers to the live chatrooms and forums available for use on the website

dAmnIT; dAmnIt is dAmn’s very own quote database! If something funny has occurred within one of the chatrooms, a user can submit their quote for approval, where it may then appear on the database. Featured quotes are displayed in the weekly LOL Corner.

dAx; dAx is a non official, but extremely popular user extension script, which enhances a user’s dAmn experience. It gives the ability to add timestamps, set an /away message and link directly to FAQ entries. For more information on dAx, please visit `siebenzehn’s userpage.

Dead horse; this is a phrase used quite often in the forums. It refers to threads which are discussing topics which have been discussed many times before. An example might be the war in Iraq.

E is for…

Emoticons; emoticons, or emotes, refer to the small pixel representations of human emotions and expressions. Some examples of emoticons would be: , etc. A complete list of all available emoticons can be found by clicking on the ‘Emoticons’ link, which can be found on the bottom right hand side of the chat window.

F is for…

FAQ; an FAQ stands for a Frequently Asked Question. This is a common term used on websites to refer to a library of questions and answers which are often asked by users. deviantART has an extremely extensive FAQ library which can be found by clicking on Help.

Firefox; firefox refers to a very popular, free internet browser (actually called Mozilla Firefox). It is popular amongst dAmn users due to its ability to have customized scripts and extensions added, allowing users to enhance their dAmn experience. Firefox can be downloaded by going to the Mozzila Firefox Website.

Flamer; a flamer is a user who posts insulting, unhelpful and generally rude comments towards new users. Threads in forums may be described as ‘flamebait’ because all sensible discussion has descended into the sending of petty insults and arguments.

Forum; a forum is a little like a noticeboard. It is an online messageboard and discussion site. Users will post threads and other users will post their response directly beneath the thread. Perhaps the easiest way to understand what the forum is, is to have a look. The forums are split into different sections in order to make finding what a user wishes to talk about easy.

Founder; a founder, or channel founder, refers to the user who originally created the chatroom. This term is often used in #mnadmin, where MN@ may ask users to contact channel founders should a problem within a privately owned room occur.

G is for…

Greasemonkey; greasemonkey is an extension created for Firefox which allows users to install custom scripts such as dAx. Greasemonkey can be downloaded freely by visiting the Greasemonkey Download Site.

H is for…

Help; if a user requires some help and would like to speak to a live person, they can visit #help which is the official deviantART related help chatroom. This room is maintained by a group of volunteer senior members and MN@ who will try to offer you assistance with using the interface of deviantART. Please be advised that this room does not assist with subscription, print, devwesr or software issues.

I is for…

Idle; if a user is idle, or idling, it means that they are not participating actively either within a chatroom or on dAmn. In simple terms, it means they are not talking. Some rooms, such as #help have a no idling policy, meaning that a user cannot be in the chatroom and then walk away from their computer for twenty minutes.

J is for…

/join; this is another nifty command which allows users to be in more than one room at once. For example, if a user wishes to be in both #devart and #love4artfun, they simply type /join love4artfun while in #devart and they will be automatically connected to the room.

K is for…

Kick; a kick refers to a deliberate temporary disconnection from a chatroom. If a user is kicked out, they will be unable to send and receive messages from that particular chatroom until they re-join the room. Messages can be added to a kick, in order to explain the reason for the removal. Users who are kicked out will receive an error message when they next try to send a message.

L is for…

Lock; a lock refers to the forums. If a thread has been misplaed e.g. a thread about football was placed in the music forum, or it contains inappropriate material, it will be locked. This prevents any user from commenting on it, effectively shutting the thread down.

Log; a log tends to refer to a text document of everything said within a chatroom that was saved by the chatroom bot. Logs are often used when Featured events occur (such as the Featured chat with :devLouisMarkoya: ) as the posting of them allows those users who could not make the event to read what happened.

LOL Corner; the LOL Corner is the weekly showcase of featured quotes that have been submitted to dAmnIT. Currently, 44 editions have been released, the most recent of which can be found here.

M is for…

Message; a message refers to the section of text which you have said to a chatroom e.g. you may type ‘hello room’ as a message.

Message Network Operator; message network operators, or MN@, are a group of selected volunteers who moderate the chatrooms and forums. They ensure users are chatting safely, enforce the rules and arrange and organize events for users to participate in. The MN@ are managed by $Tachy-on.

Moderator; a moderator, or mod, refers to someone who has the ability to moderate a chatroom. A moderator can kick and sometimes ban users, and may be able to change some of the privclass settings within a specific chatroom.

N is for…

Necro’d; a thread is described as being a necro thred, or necro’d if it is older than six months old. Necro’d threads are locked in the forums in order to keep things neat and tidy.

N00b; a n00b, or newb, refers to a new user. If it is the first time a user has used the chatrooms or forums, they may be described as being a n00b. A n00b is often used as a derogatory term for a user who does not adhere to the rules.

O is for…

OP; the OP is the original poster of a forum thread.

Operator; an operator is an alternative name for a moderator.

P is for…

/part; this is another nifty command. If a user wishes to leave a chatroom, they can do so by typing /part. e.g. if a user is in both #devart and #help and they wish to leave #help but not #devart, they can type /part in #help in order to leave.

Privclass; a privclass is one of the groups within a chatroom. For example, Guests is the default privclass for all chatrooms. Other privclass examples, would be Helpers, MN-Admins and so on.

R is for…

Rickrolled; again, this is not term exclusive to dAmn, but a popular one. A user has been rickrolled if they are linked to the video / avatar / something featuring the popular music song and video performed by Rick Astley. The video can be seen here.

Roleplay; a roleplay, or RP, refers to a particular type of chatting where the users involved take on the persona of an imaginary character. Role-playing could be considered similar to acting, and is often associated with anime. There are a large number of rooms available on dAmn which allow all sorts of different roleplaying to occur. Please be advised that explicit sexual roleplay is not allowed on dAmn.

S is for…

Spam; spam refers to the posting of unsolicited material within a chatroom or on a forum thread. A user may spam by posting one letter repeatedly, or by constantly posting a link to a particular website. In most chatrooms, spmming is not permitted, and doing so can earn a user a ban.

Sticky; a sticky, or ‘stickied’ forum thread, is one which appears at the top of each forum section. It is ‘stuck’ at the top and, no matter how old it is, will appear until such time as it is removed. An example of this would be the Common Suggestions Thread.

T is for…

Tabpwn; this is a popular term that is used when a user sends a message to the wrong person accidentally. For example, a user may send a message to @lenawargo instead of `limetastic because both usernames begin with l, and they may not autocomplete correctly.

Tard; a tard is a short version of the term ‘retard’. It can be used both as a derogatory and endearing term.

Text wall; a text wall is when a user posts a message within a chatroom that is very long and appears as a large block in the text area (an example might be something that is over seven lines long). In official rooms, it is asked text walls are kept to a minimum as they can be considered spam.

Thread; a thread refers to a specific discussion in a forum. This is an example of a thread.

Thumbnail; a thumbnail, or thumb, refers to a small preview of a deviation. Please refer to the FAQ entries below for information on how to post a thumb in dAmn.

Title & Topic; these two terms refer to the light and dark grey sections above the text area in the chatrooms. They are used to give chatroom announcements and they are normally the place to look for important chatroom information such as the rules. Please see the FAQ entries below for help in setting a topic and title.

Troll; a troll is a user who posts deliberately antagonistic material for the purpose of annoying other users.

Y is for…

Yaoi; originally, this was a term used in manga and anime to describe a relationship (not necessarily sexual) between two males. However, it is associated more with general roleplay in dAmn. For more information on yaoi, please read here. Please be advised (and reminded) that sexual roleplay is not permitted anywhere on dAmn.

Z is for…

Zikes; Zikes refers to another extremely popular extension script for firefox which allows altnerative emoticons to be posted. For more information, please visit The Zikes Website.

Helpful FAQ’s

FAQ #85: Can I be a volunteer on deviantART?
FAQ #104: What HTML formatting can we use on deviantART? And what is the format for these codes?
FAQ #287: What rules apply to the Chat Network?

FAQ #292: What are the commands that I can use on the chat network?
FAQ #513: How do I change the title (or topic) on the top of my chatroom?
FAQ #540: How can I customize my chatroom?