the art and science of disciplining the bare boy's ass by a man, usually involving a variety of positions (over the knee; bending across a chair; spread-eagled) with a variety of instruments (hairbrush, paddle, strap, etc.), continuing till the man is convinced the boy has learned his lesson.
In a flamewar, to force another poster to leave a newsgroup, or Usenet altogether, for an extended period of time. Recently this term has taken on the meaning "to force your opponent to stop replying to ('drop') a thread", although this definition is continually under debate.