On: Marketing to Engineers (2001)

[ramchip]

Some definitions for "nixie": https://directmailproduction.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/nixies...

> Nixies are records in a mailing list that should not be there. Nixies also refer to mail that gets returned to sender when mail is sent to undeliverable addresses or deliverable addresses but unknown or incorrect names.

> Nixie: Individual, family, or business has moved but no forwarding address has been provided, possibly for privacy reasons.

[atoav → ramchip]

If it is for engineers they probably mean a nixie tube which is a (old) cold cathode display device: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_tube

[lukas099 → atoav]

In the article it's actually used as an example of direct-marketing jargon.

[immibis → ramchip]

So SMTP is a series of Nixie tubes. Neat.