Digest for Sunday, July 04, 1993

Topics of the day:

1. Definition of the term "PLOKTA".

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Date:         Sun, 4 Jul 1993 20:27:12 EDT
From: BERTON_CORSON@mcimail.com<70473.1567@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject:      Definition of the term "PLOKTA".

Useful term someone made up below.  One is probably "plokta-ing", when
they telnet somewhere, and have no idea how to log off it.  First they
press all the keys, the function keys, and all control characters A to Z.
If that doesn't work they turn off and on their computer, try forcing
the modem to hang up, pull the plug, and if all else fails, throw the
whole computer out the window.  Anyway, this is all known as the
'plokta syndrome' as someone intelligently explained below:


plokta /plok'ta/ [Acronym for 'Press Lots Of Keys To Abort']  verb.
To press random keys in an attempt to get some response from the system.
One might plokta when the abort procedure for a program is not known,
or when trying to figure out if the system is just sluggish or really
hung.  Plokta can also be used while trying to figure out any unknown
key sequence for a particular operation.  Someone going into 'plokta mode'
usually places both hands flat on the keyboard and presses down, hoping
for some useful response.

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