The practice of trying to stop something that persistently occurs in an apparently random manner at the point where the occurrence is noticed, such as terminating spammers' e-mail accounts or closing pop-up advertisement windows.
Etymology:
- After the arcade game Whac-A-Mole, which involves quickly and repeatedly hitting the heads of mechanical moles with a mallet as they pop up from holes.
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It's like whack-a-mole: as soon as you fix one, another appears.
Submitted on September 01, 2009
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whack-a-mole
whack-a-mole
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"whack-a-mole." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/whack-a-mole_7939>.
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