vadding
:vadding: /vad'ing/ n. [from VAD, a permutation of ADV (i.e., ADVENT
,
used to avoid a particular admin
s continual search-and-destroy sweeps
for the game] A leisure-time activity of certain hackers involving the
covert exploration of the `secret' parts of large buildings --
basements, roofs, freight elevators, maintenance crawlways, steam
tunnels, and the like. A few go so far as to learn locksmithing in order
to synthesize vadding keys. The verb is `to vad' (compare phreaking
see also hack
sense 9). This term dates from the late 1970s, before
which such activity was simply called `hacking'; the older usage is
still prevalent at MIT.
The most extreme and dangerous form of vadding is `elevator rodeo',
a.k.a. `elevator surfing', a sport played by wrasslin' down a
thousand-pound elevator car with a 3-foot piece of string, and then
exploiting this mastery in various stimulating ways (such as elevator
hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and the ever-popular drop
experiments). Kids, don't try this at home! See also hobbit
(sense 2).
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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