Introduction, Important Points, and FAQ
“Hacker Not Cracker?” Weird name, huh?
Some time ago, I was reading an article about the history of hackers. As opposed to the common pop-culture prototype of a black-garbed pubescent teenager breaking into computer networks, hackers were computer enthusiasts or hobbyists. Basically, these people were exceptional when dealing with computers. They longed to discover the inner workings of these machines and their dream was to become experts in the field. It wasn’t until popular media started using the term that it began to take a negative connotation.
Recently, I wrote a paper about the subject of hacker origins and the truth. In it, I defended this real meaning of “hacker.” So here I am, taking another step in dispelling the negative feelings that surround hackers.
The proper term for “black-hat” hackers who do malicious acts against others’ personal information and computers (such as stealing/using unauthorized credit card information) is “crackers.” (Not to be confused with saltines or the derogatory term for Caucasians) That being said, I am a “Hacker not [a] cracker.”
In this blog, I post articles dealing with advanced computing. Although the posts are directed toward the computer savvy, wannabes are also welcomed! 🙂
Interesting Facts
- I’m a musically-talented vegetarian hacker.
- My MySpace profile is the best place to find out about me. 🙂
- I soup up my computer, not my car.
- Kevin Rose is cool.
- Cold pizza is my favorite breakfast dish.
- Caffeine pills are so much cooler to take than sodas, coffee, or caffeine serum syrups.
FAQ
- I don’t understand your highly advanced computer jargon! What’s up with that!? I assume readers to have intermediate to advanced computer knowledge. Also, this website is generally targeted to the @ Generation, Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z, iGeneration, blah, blah, blah, etc.
- Why did you write something that is legally questionable? You’ve got to know that hackers are known to get as close to the legal/illegal line as possible (sometimes, they even venture past it). I’m a white hat hacker but sometimes I get bored with my “headgear.” So, once in a while, I might post something in the gray or black area. For the record, I don’t condone illegal activities and the articles in this website are for informative purposes only.
- How do I contact you? On every page, there should be a contact link at the top menu near the logo. Or, you can click the query me link on the bottom of the left sidebar in every page.
- I heard about/read about/saw you somewhere! Are you famous? Unless you equate web designing and blogging with fame … not quite. Though, I made it on the front page of digg, I wrote an article for ProBlogger, and I sell on eBay (under the username araytb)!
- Hey! This is a cool site! Do you maintain any others? Visit my main website [artisan] [/applications] or my blog network (temporary URL at the moment).
- What’s with the weird, fun, and zany text that you use in this site? The left-sidebar headings are derived common well-known programming keywords and syntax. Most hackers (who are also programmers) will understand them. You can find the programming languages C, HTML, and PHP in there. The logo and the menu is in Leet (or 1337), a “linguistic phenomenon” that hackers (mostly wannabes), gamers, and just normal internet users write.
- Hey! You haven’t updated in a while! Why is that? Eh … I get busy with the cares of this world 🙂 I try to post a least once a week on all of my blogs. Rest assured, if I miss a week, I take note of it and plan to make it up (double-posting).
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March 19th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
woot first comment! lol this looks promising will it b?
March 23rd, 2006 at 8:26 pm
omg this is soo lame i want more posts and i want them now
March 25th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
Hey, just passing by to have a look 🙂 I like what you did with the design… looks good!
Take care,
Kiltak
March 29th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Just a wave to you too though “geeks are sexy”. 3l33t 🙂
September 11th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Just wanted to give a ‘largish’ pat on the back, only been on the site for a few minutes and already found 2 VERY helpful articles – keep up the good work!
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 am
Hey, thanks for being one of the only people around today to take a stand about not abusing the term “Hacker” to mean something it doesn’t. While you’re at it, I’d like to make a small request, that you not abuse the term “Web site” to mean something it doesn’t. A Web is defined by the W3C to be a network of interconnected Web pages. The World Wide Web is simply the set of Web pages that idiots call “the Web” – that is, the “meta” Web that exists today as a result of aggressive inter-Web linking nearly everywhere. Now, once you’ve hijacked the term “Web” to describe the entire World Wide Web (which is apparently a World Wide Mouthful for the media, ever hungry for shortcuts), what do you call a Web? Simple, you steal “Web site” from its true meaning: a site where Webs are housed. (The latter, of course, is popularly called a “Data Center,” today. That too has an interesting history, but we’re getting way off-topic, here.)
I’m guessing that if enough of us start caring about everybody’s words, rather than each of us picking a single word to care about and a hundred to trample, we might actually stand a chance against the mass media’s cold-blooded linguicide; if I trample your words and you continue to trample mine, though, the media wins, our language loses, and our hobbyist cultures that created all these things in the first place get killed in the crossfire.
I’ve decided to put a brief write-up of the problem here:
http://www.bigfatdave.com/linguicide/
I’d like to gather an authoritative dictionary of terms, what they _really_ mean, and what society tends to abuse them to mean. The idea is to give people like you and me the opportunity to avoid perpetrating linguicide without even knowing it. (I assume, for example, that you call “Webs” “Websites” not because you want to murder the real term, but simply for lack of awareness that you were doing anything wrong. You’re not even close to the only one. Each of us has his own area of specialty where he can easily spot linguicide, and ten million “non-specialty” areas where he simply trusts the media to tell him what things are called.) It can also serve as a reference for linguicide nazis (like myself), allowing us to help you fight your battles 🙂
Thanks,
– Dave
November 27th, 2013 at 10:24 pm
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