Bogon Flux

Definitions

1. The rate of flow of bogons through a system, where a bogon is the notional elementary particle of bogosity. A high bogon flux explains why nothing is working correctly and why everyone in the room is making poor decisions. The metaphor is elaborate and deliberately pseudo-scientific: bogons are emitted by broken hardware, badly written code, and certain people, and a 'bogon filter' is any mechanism that keeps them out. The vocabulary extends to the quasibogon, the bogosity meter, and the bogon-emitting properties of particular vendors, and its persistence shows how readily hackers build physics jokes into working diagnostic language.