The following is a list of commonly used terms on the Internet that a newbie may find handy when planning to start an internet home business. 

BBS – stands for bulletin board system. BBSes work just like the corkboards in hallways, kitchens or recreational rooms in most businesses. You can pick up a message of interest or leave one of your own.

Cybernaut – you are one if you use the Internet often.

E-mail – the electronic mail is probably the most used feature on the Internet. You can send out letters to friends, family, business partners and customers instantly.

Encrypted message – a message that has been scrambled so that no one other than the desired recipient, who is able to unscramble the message, is able to read it.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions.

Flame – to send someone a nasty message.

File – computer documents that you work with. You can send files over the Internet to just about anywhere in the world.

Java – a computer programming language for the distribution of digital information. Because Java can “talk” to any computer operating system, it is ideal for something so wildly diverse as the Internet.

Log-on – connecting to the Internet.

Lurk – reading and understanding the posted messages in a newsgroup before posing your own.

Mailing list – an e-mail list of people who want to get information about a specific subject (e.g. person, place, products, services, etc.)

Netiquette – comes from the words “net” and “etiquette” and it simply means good manners on the Internet.

Newsgroup – a place where individuals post and retrieve messages, except that these messages concern a particular topic. You can read or join with your own news, views and comments.

Snail mail – term referring to the slowness of the postal system compared to the speed of e-mail.

URL – Uniform Resource Locator. Also known as website address.