Today I was explaining the network situation (really good, actually, with some interesting old hardware) at Aquinas (where I work sometimes) to my flatmate (a biomed major) and, during the discussion, said "but I need to do a lot of research; I'm just a (newb/noob/n00b/etc)"
Her response to this was along the lines of "you do things that I don't understand, use words I haven't learned, and install things that I had to get a friend to install for me- you're not a newb."
"Okay," I replied. "I'm a post-newb."
I think that a post-newb (and I use "newb" instead of "noob" or other spellings because I like the way that "new" is part of it not only in the pronunciation but in spelling) is a person who has begun to delve into the sea of CS and intends to delve further, but still has wide gaps in basic realms of knowledge.
And as I read forums and FAQ (trying to find a way to get Ubuntu to play nice with my Clear wifi 4G yadda yadda dongle) I realize that yes, I really am a post-newb. Unfortunately, a lot of the people posting on these forums (mostly ubuntuforums.org btw) are also post-newbs. In fact, they're egotistical post-newbs with aspirations of guruhood.
It occurs to me that, just by being able to distinguish them (oh, and myself) from the gurus, I'm doing better than they are.
I wish that an actual guru had turned their attention to figuring out this problem. Most of these posts don't show a clear understanding of the issue, much less the solution.
But it's also exciting to be prowling in half-trodden ground- a new(ish) problem without an (established, standardized) solution.
To the Google, may it bring me knowledge.