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Comment by thetabyte | Hacker News Reader

This will answer all your questions: http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

This would be much more applicable if there'd be a culture distinguishing the two kinds here at HN. Most submissions about Anonymous or "cyberwar" call them hackers, i.e. there's no "hackers vs. crackers" mentality. (Never mind that for me, having grown up in the 80s, a "cracker" is someone who circumvents the copy protection of a game)

Still, considering that the term has morphed once again into something greater ("life hackers" etc.), I don't see a real danger in the name of this site. Never mind that we've got way more capitalistic neo-yuppies here than phreaking aging hippies…

I expect that most of us just assume that context will be a sufficient discriminator, and don't feel the need to always call out the distinction explicitly.

I think that's the core of it. Someone who plasters stickers on their Ikea coffee table is a "hacker", as is someone who breaks into the NSA, as is someone who, well, creates yet another specialized social network using RoR… (I'd say complaining about the loss of meaning would be a much better topic than arguing about a potential bad reputation)

I've read every line of ESR's hacker how to. Yes, I know what it means to respect a hacker or to be a hacker..

But why, you may like to re-read my question, as i already mentioned above, people think hacker is not a person with good motives. Who is playing the role here between you HNers and the people ?

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