________________________________________ From: users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Vickery [richard.vickeryrv@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 4:30 PM To: Community support for Fedora users Subject: Re: Has my fedora 18 installation been hacked? On Mar 15, 2013 9:39 AM, "Greg Woods" <woods@xxxxxxxx<mailto:woods@xxxxxxxx>> wrote: > > On Fri, 2013-03-15 at 08:25 -0700, Richard Vickery wrote: > > > > It is not really my intent to be rude, but each of us "hack" out own > > systems and the kernel all the time. > > Unfortunately, this battle over the word "hack" and "hacker" has already > been fought and lost. The media, and just about everyone other than > hard-core geeks, uses the word "hack" to mean breaking into systems. Not in my circles; I refuse to let people alternate the term. > Heck, that's why we co-opted the word "geek", which not that long ago > was a very insulting term, and is now used as a term for people worthy > of respect, similar to how "hacker" was used in the old days. > > I suppose it is confusing that the meanings of these words have changed, > but unfortunately the real meaning of a word is going to be defined by > how it is most commonly used. So change it!!! Don't let them beat you into the ground; correct them! IMO, "hack" has sort of a violent sound to it, which makes me feel it is more appropriate for a forceful entry type of context, and I am not surprised that most people assume that this is what it should mean. Furthermore. where I am from "cracker" is a more or less insulting racial term so it just leads to awkwardness. I do know the history of the term "hacker" but I have zero problems with the way it is used in the media. *** Please note Gordon State College has changed all email addresses ending in @gdn.edu to @gordonstate.edu *** -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
