ian@utcsstat.UUCP (Ian F. Darwin) (12/15/83)
ihuxc!covert suggests use of "twit" as a term for those who break into systems. Unfortunately, this term has the other meaning of a bumbling incompetent. Some of those who break in are incompetent, but some are competent and malicious. These people are not twits. I have suggested in various media the use of the term "cracker" which is similar in sound to hacker, but with the clear difference. I realise that this word, too, has another meaning, but it should be distinct enough. Is "cracker" as in from Georgia &c considered derogatory in most parts of the U.S.A.? -- Ian F. Darwin, Toronto uucp: utcsstat!ian
werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (12/17/83)
x <- news-debugger Finally decided to jump in and participate in the HACKER/CRACKER discussion: Too late, I am afraid, to save the "unblemished" reputation of the term HACKER, and I am in grief. But let's not recommend the term CRACKER, please, let's find something that sounds as dissimilar to it as possible. I have not put thought to inventing or recommending a term, but, maybe, I will have by the end of this article. But let's not allow them to make HACKER an accepted term for the bad guys, pleeeaaase. I also like a recent recommendation of using the term WIZARD only, and abandon the word HACKER completely. Other terms were also mentioned, but I'll try to train myself to replace HACKER with WIZARD in my usage. There is just one problem. Whereas I never had any inhibition to identify myself as a "fellow-hacker", I hesitate to call myself a "wizard". Sounds as if I was claiming too high a computer-status and could be misinterpreted as "computer-snobbery". It's really a dilemma .... If only they'd never misused HACKER to mean the bad guys, CRACKER would actually not have been bad, even though it is in use already among blacks and "educated" others, and outside Georgia, of course. Well it's also used in connection with safes and backs and codes. So lets find a term, agree on it, and then "FORCE IT ON THE MEDIA" with determination. No, inspiration has not struck me, but I'll give it some thought "offline".
spoo@utcsrgv.UUCP (Suk Lee) (12/18/83)
How about "jerks"?
holmes@dalcs.UUCP (Ray Holmes) (12/22/83)
"HACKER" is about the highest form of praise I can think of. I don't understand this current "phase" of demeaning hackers who do.most of the real work anyway.
jbray@bbncca.ARPA (James Bray) (12/24/83)
I will continue to refer to myself as a kernel- and microcode- hacker, and will simply use the interpretation of the term as an immediate means of distinguishing between fellow hackers and those Outside of The Priesthood, the Great UnBitMapped. Note that GTE and their Telenet branch are among the latter. In several years the low-horsepower Time/Newsweek crowd will have something else to blather about. Hackers will outlive them. (Note that I in general try to avoid Electronic Elitism, but when the Savages are at the very Gates of the Empire, the old Civil/Empire player in me is aroused.) --Jim Bray (decvax!bbncca!jbray), jbray@bbncca