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Signal-to-Noise

Signal-to-noise was originally an electrical engineering term and is used to indicate the value of a signal. Signal indicates useful information, and noise indicates static or the absence of useful information; hence the expression signal-to-noise is used to indicate the value of a particular discussion. A useful discussion has a high signal-to-noise ratio; a low signal-to-noise ratio is found in a discussion full of insults and "flames." This expression is common on USENET newsgroups, often when a writer is attempting to get the group to drop a topic and move on to something more useful.

W3E References:

netiquette
USENET

Print References:

Zen and the Art of the Internet by Brendan Kehoe. Prentice-Hall Computer Books, 1994. ISBN: 0131214926
Que's Computer and Internet Dictionary by Brian Pfaffenberger with David Wall. Que, Indianapolis, IN. 1995. ISBN: 0-7897-0356-4

Detail:

A moderated newsgroup is a newsgroup with one or more moderators reviewing the submissions in order to insure that the discussion stays on topic and doesn't degenerate into personal attack. In addition, some newsgroups find that particular subtopics are apt to elicit unproductive and bitter disagreements, and these groups will agree not to discuss these topics (again). Moderated newsgroups normally have very high signal-to-noise ratios.

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Copyright 1996 Charles River Media. All rights reserved.
Text - Copyright © 1995, 1996 - James Michael Stewart & Ed Tittel.
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Revised -- February 20th, 1996