vadding
vadding: /vad'ing/ n. [from VAD, a permutation of ADV (i.e.,
ADVENT), used to avoid a particular admin's continual
search-and-destroy sweeps for the game] A leisure-time activity of
certain hackers involving the covert exploration of the `secret'
parts of large buildings -- basements, roofs, freight elevators,
maintenance crawlways, steam tunnels, and the like. A few go so far
as to learn locksmithing in order to synthesize vadding keys. The
verb is `to vad' (compare phreaking; see also hack, sense 9).
This term dates from the late 1970s, before which such activity was
simply called `hacking'; the older usage is still prevalent at MIT.
The most extreme and dangerous form of vadding is `elevator
rodeo', a.k.a. `elevator surfing', a sport played by wrasslin' down
a thousand-pound elevator car with a 3-foot piece of string, and
then exploiting this mastery in various stimulating ways (such as
elevator hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and the
ever-popular drop experiments). Kids, don't try this at home! See
also hobbit (sense 2).
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