Why do file upload examples use the name "qqfile"?

Question

I've noticed that there's seems to be this unwritten convention that when posting a file to a server to call the file in the request "qqfile". Googling away I can't seem to find any explination as to why "qqfile" was chosen.

Is there some reason rooted in history as to why this name is used?

Answer 1

Because one of the popular AJAX file uploading components uses the namespace qq and parameter qqfile. Prefixing file with the namespace was probably to avoid clashes with other parameters in a form. I don't know why author prefered qq as the namespace for his component though, because it resembles neither file upload nor his website, valums.com. He could have wanted something that is short like $ that doesn't conflict with existing popular libraries.

https://github.com/valums/file-uploader