What does it exactly mean to say something is not a
word? According to
webster 1913, a word is
essentially a
component of human
speech, used to
express an
idea. However, the phrase above is typically used to point out something that does not exist in common
language. This implies that
making up words is not possible. I find that
incorrect and
unacceptable.
So what if word 'downvote' (as a verb) is not in dictionary? It's made of two parts, down and vote. Now, I don't know how it is with you english-speaking people, in finnish language it is completely acceptable to take two legitimate words, combine them in legitimate way and create a new, legitimate word.
I say, if a group of letters has an understandable content and it conforms to the language RFC, let it be. newbie is a word, downvote is a word, barfing is a word and ping is conjugated ping - pang - pong.
A short reply: You said people turn to Webster too often in a tone of "English is a living language", and at the same time refuse allowing English to evolve. I don't see anything bad about word-mixing, so why not let it in (stay?) ? Languages should, as they have before, steal whatever's cool in other languages and adapt it.