So an inexperienced user on a forum, who may get mocked by bullies who have hung around there longer, is called a "newbie." I've always wondered what word describes the opposite of a newbie. I could look it up in an antonym dictionary, but besides that there might be no particular antonym, I'm thinking of forum jargon. I've never known or thought of a single word for an anti-newbie. Certainly not a punchy one.

newbie opposite oldie
opposites attract like a magnet

Sad f**k that hasn't go anything better to do with his life than make endless posts to a geek forum?
Maybe a bit long winded, needs to be shorter and snapier

Are you being mocked?

I regularly use the term newbie and it only means someone that I have to watch what I say to. If I were to talk to some of the senior people in very technical terms I'd assume they would understand it. When I speak to a newbie, I try to use terms that won't make their head spin and eyes glass over and have them mumble stuff.

In reality, we are all newbies each day.

However, I hope you get some tougher skin. Being called a newbie shouldn't bother anyone.
While I'll agree that one shouldn't be bullied on LQ, they should also either tell a mod or Jeremy or PM the people who might be doing this.

I'm *terrified* to post new [my] question Threads on LQ.
'Because' when I started, I got 'reported' for 'wasting [Gurus'] time' (in General yet)!
It's *my* IMAGEing IMAGEination, == *my* 'belief'.
It it realistic? Not any more (or less) than any other [arbitrarily chosen] belief.
I can be terrified of snakes/bees/Win10/blood/ANYthing, or *'love'* it.

So, is 'reality' "REAL"? Absolutely [NOT]!
I/any_human can IMAGE*==believe ANYthing!
AND, what's worse/better, it *doesn't matter*!
Because, relative to the universe, we're "grains of sand".
There's dozens of millions of humans 'suffering horrifically' somewhere on earth.
The *only* 'thing' that matters/exists, for humans, is what they 'IMAGE'==think==believe.

That's the way the human mind/brain works. And it doesNOT matter. OK, I'll post now. Bye.

The most common antonym to "newbies" that I've seen is "old-timers."

I have seen places where old-timers mock newbies. I have always found that mocking inexperienced users for being inexperienced is nothing more than cyber-bullying, in which persons try to make themselves look big by tearing others down.

One thing I like about LQ is that the great majority of persons who frequent this place remember that we were all newbies once. I was certainly a rank newbie when I first came here.

With over half a million registrants, LQ has seen members who may not behave in a welcoming manner, just as it has seen members who fail to observe its guidelines. Nevertheless, the proportion of ill-behavior that I've seen here is far lower than I've seen at many other internet places.

This is not a binary function or range: Opposites of a newbie are Power User, GURU, and Wizard (once called 'hacker', until the term was corrupted to mean the same as 'breaker' by that stupid movie).

A 'Wizard' may be a 'GURU', and a 'GURU' may be a 'wizard', but the two are not exactly the same: both imply and higher degree of knowledge, training, and experience. A 'Power User' is unlikely to have the depth of knowledge of the underlying systems as compared to a 'GURU' or 'WIZARD', but often has more interface and application experience and may be able to explain a procedure using shorter words and less (or at least different) technical jargon.
None of them should ever be considered 'anti newby'. but see term 'TROLL' for that special case.

Note: 'TROLL' does not imply that any of the other terms apply, it is an independent characteristic.

A term related to but less destructive than 'TROLL" is 'BEAR': this is a 'WIZARD', 'Power User', or 'GURU' that is perpetually in a very bad mood but does attempt to help. Possibly in terms that may crush your ego.

For all of these cases and the many that fall somewhere between, it pays to be patient and polite, and consider that they may be acting as a 'BEAR' because they have not been laid (or even had a date) in four or more years.

A lot of people distinguish between newbies and noobs. A newbie is simply inexperienced. He or she still has L-plates on. So, as Jefro says, people who give advice to newbies must try not to use over-technical language. But no one stays a newbie for long.

A noob is a hapless person who not only doesn't know much but has shown him/herself to be a poor learner. Noobs make posts with totally uninformative titles, they use text-speak, they don't read man pages or carry out any Google searches before posting, they don't provide adequate information on their problem or try out suggestions and report back on what happened, and they whine all time.

Some people don't know the difference between a newbie and a noob. They just flame anyone who appears to be ignorant. Which is a great pity.

THe first time I was called a newby was around 1986 whyen I started "big school" -- I was puzzled so asked somebody a little older what it meant and was told it was short for "new boy". So, the "opposite" is "old boy".
There is some discussion around the place on the origins of the term but since I was called newby before the WWW and before most people had the internet I'm happy to assume it's from the British public school system and is simply descriptive and in no way derogatory.

Edit: As an aside, the titles on this site are just for fun and anybody using their title as a badge of authority should be ignored. Similarly, though, anybody taking notice of forum titles should learn not to do so.

Wizard? I kind of like that. I would use it to ironically pretend to show respect.

And no, I'm not being mocked at this time. I haven't seen blatant mockery on LQ in years. I'm simply being cynical about this issue. I actually know the difference between "newbie" (sometimes used neutrally) and "noob" (an insult).

I actually think of a "newby" as somebody worthy of help and encouragement -- I know that is patronising but I try not to do that.
I actually like being a newby nowadays and find it fun to learn things from others -- I wasn't all that interested in learning a lot of the stuff I had to learn in school but, after that, some cool dudes taught me a little C++ and Java, some chilled-out guy taught me some more "customer service" skills and my current colleagues are trying to teach me how to game (I like Minecraft so far) so being a newby is great .

Why do I think this sounds funny? blatant mockery! Maybe Monty Python sort of stuff.

I have used and probably will use some term referring to rookies as "newbies" or some variation of that term but I try not to use it as a perjorative, and don't mean it as a negative since it seems to me it all balances out. First of all, if one is not a "newb" at something that means you're not stretching, not growing, and becoming rigid and brittle. Both positions have pros and cons. Balance.

"He not busy being born is busy dying" - Bob Dylan.

Anyone paying close attention might note that there is a large group here of varied levels of expertise that do not actually use ANY of these terms unless someone first uses one them to describe themselves.
I know people (and consider myself one) that are wizard level in some areas, and barely above rookie in others. Labels do not help us understand how to formulate questions, or answers. We do not come here to label people, but to get help or to help people. Unless well defined and agreed upon throughout the community, labels on people are not productive. Labels that ARE well defined and agreed upon are ALSO not productive if they cause some of the people encountering them to stop THINKING!

Like a zombie hoard, we are all about the BRAINS! ;-)