black hole

	This is the JargonFile ^(V4.00) entry for black hole - Next: black magic, Prev: black art
:black hole: /n./ What a piece of email or netnews has fallen into if it disappears mysteriously between its origin and destination sites (that is, without returning a bounce message). "I think theres a black hole at foovax!" conveys suspicion that site foovax has been dropping a lot of stuff on the floor lately (see drop on the floor). The implied metaphor of email as interstellar travel is interesting in itself. Compare bit bucket.
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996 - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)