[aklug] Re: Open maker night at Anchorage Makerspace

From: Jim Gribbin <jimgribbin@gmail.com>
Date: Sat Feb 22 2014 - 01:25:23 AKST

I think you're you're right about the ship sailing, and it sailed a long
time ago. When I was working with computers in the early 80s, we kept
trying to get people to distinguish between "hackers" and "crackers".
Media and script kiddies just refused to get it.

Let's see... "Fairies" used to be mythical creatures in kids stories like
Peter Pan and, when I was a kid, there were still adults around that
referred to a lit cigarette as a "fag" and a burning ember from the fire as
a "faggot". Oh well.

Jim G

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 5:26 AM, John Heim <john@johnheim.com> wrote:

> IMO, the ship has sailed on the word "hackers". Words mean what people
> think they mean and that word now means someone doing bad things with
> computers. Does it really matter that that was not the original meaning? I
> know an old guy who still insists on using the word "gay" to mean happy.
> You don't want to be that guy.
>
> I don't think there should be any question that you don't want to use the
> word "hacker" to publicize an event. Most people hearing that hackers are
> getting together would probably hope the FBI was keeping an eye on the
> gathering. People would be like, "Well, they are publicizing the event so
> they are probably not going to do anything too bad. Even so, I hope the FBI
> is there just in case." Suppose you heard about a convention for gay
> birdwatchers. And then it turned out that they just meant they were
> cheerful birdwatchers, they'd always called themselves the gay
> birdwatchers, and they weren't about to stop. You'd think that was kind of
> dumb, wouldn't you?
>
> Whether we should stop using the term among ourselves is less clear, IMO.
>
> On 02/20/14 00:48, Christopher Howard wrote:
>
>> On 02/19/2014 09:59 AM, Tim Johnson wrote:
>>
>>> * Greg Schmitz <greg@amipa.org> [140219 07:11]:
>>> Blacks that I know hate that word including when one black person
>>> uses it with another.
>>> Having said that - I will wave my "hacking" flag proudly. I've
>>> even gotten used to the word "geek" even though my heart goes out
>>> to those poor chickens at the carnival.
>>>
>>> BTW: "Hack" is a term used in a number of disciplines and
>>> occupations, including radio technology. Two of my brothers are
>>> radio techs and use the term proudly in there work.
>>>
>> These days, if you are labeled a hacker, you will be feared by
>> businessmen, and villanized by politicians, and all your non-techie
>> friends (and enemies) will have grandiose, romanticized ideas about your
>> awesome technological powers.
>>
>> So, what's the downside here?
>>
>>
> --
> ===
> John Heim, john@johnheim.net
>
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Received on Sat Feb 22 01:25:46 2014

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