Editing Null device (section)

== References in computer culture ==
This entity is a common inspiration for technical [[jargon]] expressions and [[metaphor]]s by Unix programmers, e.g. "please send complaints to <code>/dev/null</code>", "my mail got archived in <code>/dev/null</code>", and "redirect to <code>/dev/null</code>"—being jocular ways of saying, respectively: "don't bother sending complaints", "my mail was deleted", and "go away". The [[iPhone Dev Team]] commonly uses the phrase "send donations to <code>/dev/null</code>", meaning they do not accept donations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/41744653/donations-to-devnull|title=Dev-Team Blog - Donations to /dev/null|date=2015-09-07|access-date=2018-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907154408/http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/41744653/donations-to-devnull|archive-date=2015-09-07}}</ref> The fictitious person name "Dave (or Devin) Null" is sometimes similarly used (e.g., "send complaints to Dave Null").<ref name="Goodman 2004 p. 170">{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Danny |title=Spam Wars: Our Last Best Chance to Defeat Spammers, Scammers, and Hackers |publisher=SelectBooks |location=New York |year=2004 |url={{Google books|kUp6p5P8wao|page=170|plainurl=yes}} |isbn=9781590790632 |oclc=1036874851 |page=170}}</ref> In 1996, [[Dev Null]] was an animated [[virtual reality]] character created by [[Leo Laporte]] for MSNBC's computer and technology TV series ''[[The Site]]''. Dev/null is also the name of a vampire hacker in the computer game [[Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption]]. A 2002 advertisement for the Titanium [[PowerBook G4]] reads "Sends other UNIX boxes to /dev/null."<ref name="macnn">{{cite web|url=http://www4.macnn.com/macnn/articles/unixad.jpg |title=Image: unixad.jpg, (1094 × 720 px) |access-date=2015-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326010431/http://www4.macnn.com/macnn/articles/unixad.jpg |archive-date=March 26, 2013 }}</ref>

The null device is also a favorite subject of technical jokes,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.freebsd.org/doc/6.1-RELEASE/usr/share/doc/faq/funnies.html#DEV-NULL |title=The FreeBSD Funnies |publisher=Freebsd.org |access-date=2012-11-28}}</ref> such as warning users that the system's <code>/dev/null</code> is already 98% full. The 1995 [[April Fools' Day|April Fool's]] issue of the [[Germany|German]] magazine ''[[c't]]'' reported on an enhanced <code>/dev/null</code> [[integrated circuit|chip]] that would [[entropy|efficiently dispose]] of the incoming data by converting it to a flicker on an internal glowing [[light-emitting diode|LED]].

Dev/Null is also the name of an electronic dance music producer and jungle DJ.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Dev Null Microjunglizm |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/night-life/devnull-microjunglizm |access-date=2024-01-24 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en}}</ref>