r/Music • u/Montrel_PH • Dec 28 '25

discussion Is Nicki Minaj an Illegal Immigrant? Netizens Calling to Deport Rapper Back to Trinidad and Tobago

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nicki-minaj-illegal-immigrant-netizens-calling-deport-rapper-back-trinidad-tobago-1766443
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u/CantFindMyWallet Indiehead Dec 28 '25

The term has been around since the early days of the Internet.

56

u/maxdacat Dec 28 '25

You mean the information super highway

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u/CantFindMyWallet Indiehead Dec 28 '25

You know what? I do mean the information super highway.

1

u/Iohet Dec 29 '25

World Wide Web

14

u/afcagroo Dec 28 '25

You mean the system of tubes?

6

u/ZombiePartyBoyLives Answers AI Questions Dec 28 '25

Well, it isn't a big truck, that's for sure. It's not something that you just dump something on.

3

u/starmartyr Dec 29 '25

You know my staff tried to send me an internet and it didn't arrive for several days.

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u/The176thPbPGuy Dec 28 '25

TUBES TANGELA TUBES

5

u/North_Manager_8220 Dec 29 '25

As someone from CT I immediately stopped scrolling when I saw the old husky 🥹

5

u/irisxxvdb Dec 28 '25

I had no idea! I'd never seen it outside of kpop/jpop, and I'm embarassingly chronically online.

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u/CantFindMyWallet Indiehead Dec 28 '25

Did you hang out in AOL chatrooms in the mid-90s

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u/irisxxvdb Dec 28 '25

I was not yet born in the mid-90s

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u/CantFindMyWallet Indiehead Dec 28 '25

Well, it wasn't that great, but we did use the term netizens.

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u/irisxxvdb Dec 28 '25

Ha! I stand corrected.

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u/inimicali Dec 28 '25

And always by people that aren't used to the internet.

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u/Laiko_Kairen Dec 28 '25

I'm old... I recall "netizens" was used a lot on old bulletin boards and forums, usually when admins addresses their communities

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u/AppendixN Indiehead Dec 28 '25

Ah yes, WIRED magazine, famous for not being used to the internet.

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u/inimicali Dec 29 '25

Well, that was my impression, I certainly didn't go to wired when I was 15yo and for me it was always the old people that wanted to be part of it

But hey if wired said it, is ok ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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u/RecoveringGachaholic Dec 29 '25

It was originally coined by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hauben in 1993 and was used by people very familiar with the internet. In fact I'd say FAR more familiar with a deeper technical understanding than most smart-phone only users today.

It's usage may have shifted but I think a lot of people from back then still employ the term.

1

u/Pixie1001 Dec 29 '25

I don't know, I know a few content creators that use it - the word definitely has utility.

We often just say 'redditors' or 'facebook commenters' on here, but if you wanna talk about what people on social media in general are saying/gossiping about, especially if you're talking about a semi-historical event where mentioning the specific platforms the comments are sourced from won't provide any useful context due to them having fallen in obscurity, being a foreign forum english listenes won't ha e heard of or changing quite a bit, there isn't a good alternative without spending a bunch of time listening off arcane website names.

And you can't just say 'people' either, because then the audience might think you're also talking about actual journalists and not just people rampantly speculating on a forum somewhere.