# PTP? WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 24, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ptp-wtf/95079 "2001-11-24T22:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ptp-wtf/95079/1 "2001-11-24T22:32:10Z")
I’ve seen this initialization used several times in connection with the SDMB. It apparently stands for some kind of transfer protocol. What kind? :confused More importantly, what does it actually mean? I mean how would that alter SDMB,etc. Excuse my ignorance, but that’s what this board is out to fight. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ptp-wtf/95079/2 "2001-11-24T22:44:50Z")
It stands for “Punch The Pole”. You may remember those “shock the monkey” irritating web banners. The SDMB had a similar webvert, but the ill-advised campaign portrayed a drunken person of the polish persuasion who was stumbling across your screen, and if you managed to click on him with your mouse you got a free Straight Dope T-shirt. Due to protests from the Polish ambassador and a letter-writing campaign organized by the Krakow-Chicago friendship association the campaign was shelved. Nowadays we prefer that those initials not be used at the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ptp-wtf/95079/3 "2001-11-24T22:47:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*It stands for “Punch The Pole”. You may remember those “shock the monkey” irritating web banners. The SDMB had a similar webvert, but the ill-advised campaign portrayed a drunken person of the polish persuasion who was stumbling across your screen, and if you managed to click on him with your mouse you got a free Straight Dope T-shirt. > Due to protests from the Polish ambassador and a letter-writing campaign organized by the Krakow-Chicago friendship association the campaign was shelved. Nowadays we prefer that those initials not be used at the SDMB. \*\* OK, what does it really stand for? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ptp-wtf/95079/4 "2001-11-24T22:58:08Z")
Pay to post, i.e. the possibility of the SDMB charging a subscription fee. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ptp-wtf/95079/5 "2001-11-24T23:44:58Z")
You mentioned transfer protocols; PTP _can_ stand for Peer-To-Peer (or sometimes Person-To-Person) networking - a setup where computers are networked together without the specific need for a server. But that’s not what it means in the context of recent threads here.