No. Own it. Hackers share many of the qualities and flaws. Get over it.
Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
11–20 of 78 posts
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#12Isn't the definition of hacker infact a cracker? I don't think a community (not HN, just in general) can just coin a term and expect to change the definition for all.
A minority community can take ownership of a pejorative. A pejorative is often a word appropriated by a majority. Both of the previous sentences apply here. And no, you are incorrect.
Thanks for outright saying I'm was incorrect, really inspires confidence in one's self.
Thanks for shining some clarity on this for me. I was merely asking a question followed by a thought, I didn't claim to be correct. I was simply asking.
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#13Isn't the definition of hacker infact a cracker? I don't think a community (not HN, just in general) can just coin a term and expect to change the definition for all.
> Hackers from this subculture tend to emphatically differentiate themselves from what they pejoratively call "crackers".
This has been going on for tens of years. Hackers feel like the media has wrongly appropriated the word, but nothing has changed in the meantime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture...
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#14I'm pretty sure I read this complaint on Slashdot, circa 1997.
Despite what people claim, it wasn't true then and it isn't true now. For example the movie "War Games"(1983)[1] uses the term Hacker to refer to someone who hacked into computer systems.
A word can have multiple connotations without causing problems.
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#15We'd have more luck just inventing and adopting a new word to replace hacker, any suggestions?
Craftsman or Artisan strike me as a good place to start.
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#16Isn't the definition of hacker infact a cracker? I don't think a community (not HN, just in general) can just coin a term and expect to change the definition for all.
> Hackers from this subculture tend to emphatically differentiate themselves from what they pejoratively call "crackers". This has been going on for tens of years. Hackers feel like the media has wrongly appropriated the word, but nothing has changed in the meantime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture...
I don't argue that there are two meanings on the word, but the true definition as per Oxford dictionaries is clear that a hacker is a cracker, but there is another informal definition.
All I'm saying is that surely it's not only the media that need to change, but also all definitions in general?
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#17Back in the 90's and early 2000's this is what I thought 'Hacker' and 'Cracker' meant
Hacker - A person who circumvents a walled network.
Cracker - A person who circumvents a walled software.
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#18We started using "intruder" instead of "hacker"/"cracker" at Rublon. It seems to work pretty well.
I usually refer to 'crackers' as 'black-hat hackers'
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#19In my experience, even those who use the term not in the 'Cracker' sense disagree on its meaning. Definitions range from 'elite programmer' to 'programmer who operates in a disorganised, haphazard manner'.
'Cracker' also has racial connotations in the US, doesn't it? Language is complicated.
Re: Change.org Petition: Tell media not to use 'Hacker' when they mean 'Cracker'
#20This is probably as futile and misguided as Stallman's effort to get everyone to say "GNU/Linux". Once a word serves its functional purpose within a community it's going to be used to communicate whatever idea it communicates. Words are often used contrary to what their etymology and history would seem to imply. I don't use "hacker" to mean "intruder," but I'm not going to waste any effort "correcting" people who do.