from: the on-line hacker Jargon File, version 4.2.3:
plonk excl.,vt. Usenet: possibly influenced by British slang
`plonk' for cheap booze, or `plonker' for someone behaving stupidly
(latter is lit. equivalent to Yiddish `schmuck') The sound a {newbie}
makes as he falls to the bottom of a {kill file}. While it originated
in the {newsgroup} talk.bizarre, this term (usually written "*plonk*")
is now (1994) widespread on Usenet as a form of public ridicule.