The spread of a successful but pernicious meme, especially one that parasitises the victims into GIving their all to propagate it. Astrology, BASIC, and the other guy' s reliGIon are often considered to be examples. This usage is GIven point by the historical fact that "joiner" ideoloGIes like Naziism or various forms of millennarian Christianity have exhibited plague-like cycles of exponential growth followed by collapses to small reservoir populations. [Jargon File] (1996-08-11)