/nü-bē/
n. [orig. from British public-school and military slang variant of new boy]
USENET neophyte. This term surfaced in the newsgroup talk.bizarre but is now in wide use. Criteria for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie in one newsgroup while remaining a respected regular in another. The label newbie is sometimes applied as a serious insult to a person who has been around USENET for a long time but who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue.
See BIFF.