Talk:Leet

Not even vaguely true
"Leet originated within bulletin board systems (BBS) in the 1980s, where having "elite" status on a BBS allowed a user access to file folders, games, and special chat rooms. "

"Leet" predated BBSes by more than a decade. The term arose when someone noticed how the LCD (not LED) screens, when you had 1337 on it (there was a serif on the bottom of the "1") and looked at it upside down, it "spelled" "LEET"... this quickly made the rounds, I first encountered it ca. 1974 or 1975. Another one was "7734", which, with the open-4 (most text uses closed 4s), looked like "hELL" upside down.

I haven't done anything to the entry, because I can't "document" this, but it's blatantly wrong. It should be elided, if not edited for correction. OBloodyHell (talk) 18:45, 28 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Nah, this trick got its own article: you seem to be talking about the Calculator spelling; which indeed pre-dates t3h ([_]17[_]R3 of t3h 1337 h4xx0rz. The real 1337 starts when you try to obfuscate every word you type with sum kewl 3l373 5pe1i/\/9 some cool elite spelling. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.89.66.133 (talk) 14:01, 21 November 2022 (UTC)
 * OK, added "1337 upside down". Apparently, "leet"/"1337" make a great ambigram. 81.89.66.133 (talk) 15:24, 16 December 2022 (UTC)


 * I doubt this article is correct in its claims of origin. Handheld calculators of the 1960s and '70s were mostly *only* able to output 7 bits corresponding to the straight lines in the numeral 8 (three vertical (top, middle, bottom) and two pairs of two (vertical on left and right)). With these building blocks, along with the digits 0 thru 9, various letters could be output: A, C, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, O, P, R, S, T, U, Y, and b, c, d, h, i, o, r (or lc gamma), u. (18 of English's 26). In the early 70's, I had a TI calculator that I could program to display those characters, and with a couple of two place code combinations the remaining 8 as well. This clearly was a predecessor of anything similar that appeared 10 years later. It seems like the leetspeak is far less 1:1 with the English alphabet, and that it is not just a superset of the calculator speak, but neglecting to give credit where credit is due is wrong.72.16.96.150 (talk) 03:06, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

insulated-gate bipolar transistors?
nobody would know what this means and it seems like a really random example - Awesomecat713 (talk) 02:41, 15 December 2022 (UTC)


 * My, my, ironially, early Internet users born in 1987 had to face the leeth' peak 109.252.65.192 (talk) 22:23, 16 July 2023 (UTC)
 * IGBT fits along with LCD displays - things popular in the previous century. The laptop in the title photo also appears to be made somewhere in the 90's or 2000. 81.89.66.133 (talk) 08:01, 7 August 2023 (UTC)

This page ought to have recent history documented
Leet has been out of fashion for many years now, and it only ever sees use with nostalgic connotations. The history of its use should be documented, lest we forget when it was actually relevant. 62.198.142.189 (talk) 22:12, 8 January 2024 (UTC)


 * I disagree, as it still has relevance in 202X, as various gamers still use l33t-like orthography modifications to go around a plethora of already taken and abandoned nicknames on Steam. Or to insult or cuss or both thru a filter (see Algospeak subsection for examples). 81.89.66.133 (talk) 15:39, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

not sure how the algospeak section is relevant
" Algospeak shares conceptual similarities with leet, albeit with its primary purpose to circumvent algorithmic censorship online."

" Variants of leet have been used to evade censorship for many years; "

algospeak is essentially just derivative vocabulary of leet that has popularized itself from tiktok, but i don't see how it's significant in differentiating the two, other than the relevance of people using it alternatively in present day. I don't think it needs its own section because this topic is on leet specifically, and I feel like algospeak should be its own topic page that directs to leets origins, not the other way around.

I don't necessarily think that " The approach has gained more popularity in 2023 and 2024 due to the rise in conflict between Israel and Gaza with the topic's contentious nature on the Internet, especially on Meta and TikTok platforms" is relevant either, this is a subsection of the internet trying to tie leet and algospeech in the formative communication system in people regarding current events. i've been active in social media discussing the war against gaza and not once have I seen anything related to algospeak, I didn't even know what that was.

also I don't get how examples like "restarded" "(provides) either the same general meaning, pronunciation, or shape of the original word." in a context that " evade automated online moderation techniques, especially those that are considered unfair or hindering free speech . " really???

also i'm pretty sure using words like "unalive" refer to people who blacklist triggering words like suicide so they don't see them in an irrelevant context, and using the softer alternative is primarily used by people providing information on a subject or event as they are aware of those who blacklist those words.

this whole section is a mess  Contributioncat (talk) 07:05, 10 March 2024 (UTC)


 * H0ld 0n, 7here 15 a 600/) 12eason to mention 4160speak.
 * 1337speak - obfuscates text a li'l to avoid getting b&ed by mods.
 * 4160speak - again, obfuscates text a li'l to avoid getting b&ed by mods.
 * 4150
 * "Restarted people" in place of "retarded people" - makes sense in general context
 * 4150
 * f11111111111111111111111111111ne. BRB fixing. 81.89.66.133 (talk) 13:05, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Petition to spin off Algospeak as its own article, since its lexicon is so distinct from leet, and the demographic creating it is so disconnected from the demographic that created leet. Given how alive and dynamic algospeak is, it no longer makes sense to have the two share a page. --Quintopia (talk) 16:59, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

"Alternatively, an abbreviation can be leet-ified into a valid hexadecimal color code"
Just in case: the examples in the section are not really random; rather, every one of them has some association to it.
 * 614D05 - the shade of dark browng-old can be found in-game at nearly every Aperture Science computer's screen
 * 572E55 - the dark purple color is strongly associated with dangerous energy in anime a lot.
 * C47C47 - the funny orange shade reminds me of calicos and orange cats, not Marrocan oranges.

Counterexamples: 81.89.66.133 (talk) 11:37, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
 * 748452 for "tabasq", e.g. tabasco: the green color is associated with bell pepper or halapenjo sauce made of green peppers... not tabasco sauce.
 * Deep blue for 1C1641 (coming from Ikigai) is not really creating an association.