The BBC has taken a look at the rise of the passive-aggressive wi-fi names. The gist of the matter is that wi-fi network names have become the fridge notes of the digital age.

You know the types. Those left by maladjusted co-workers: “DON’T TOUCH MY MILK”, “the day-old curry is not yours to eat”, “THE BLUE SMARTIES ARE POISONOUS.” For those precious individuals, the communal fridge was a bulletin board for all their frustrations. Now, we all have the chance to tell our neighbours off for stealing our newspapers, letting their dog shit on the pavement, or tut-tutting their passionate cries disturbing your quiet time.

The BBC trawled Reddit for ‘stories’ relating to this modern occurrence, and posted them together and called it a feature. It’s unclear whether the examples are real, or just perpetuated Internet myths. The example of one user’s SSID “stop stealing my paper,” and another “FYI I don’t read it I just throw it away” has been around longer than rick-rolling.

The article begins with an explanation of an SSID (the name of your wireless network) before giving a few examples of ‘amusing’ wi-fi network names:

But this is an era of bite-sized self-expression. It’s possible to see names like “Drop it like it’s hotspot”, “Terror network”, and “Virus Detected Shutting Down”. Or witticisms like “Pretty fly for a Wi-Fi” and “Wi Believe I Can Fi”.

It is a sad day indeed where a wireless network referencing an R Kelly song is regarded by the BBC as wit.

The article goes on, listing a bunch of wireless network names that instruct neighbours to do things.

• “Stop slamming the door!!!”
• “Stop wearing heels!”
• “Shut up”
• “Stop running”
• and “Stop shouting!!

Yesterday I set my wi-fi’s name to “Hack this if you can”. When I checked it today, it was called “Challenge accepted”.