[sudoroom] IMPORTANT POLL & Meetup Was Awesome

[Paul Ivanov]

Matthew Senate, on 2011-12-30 12:21,  wrote:
> p.s. poll link again: http://sudoroom.limequery.com/93385/lang-en

Thanks for putting this together, Matt, and it was nice meeting
everyone else. 

As a point of information regarding our discussion on the use of
language when communicating with potential landlords, I filled
out the above survey from a cafe with wifi, and when I tried
clicking the link to go back to the hackerspace wiki, was greeted
with this message:

    --------
    This site is blocked by the SonicWALL Content Filter Service.
    
    URL: http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Sudo_room
    
    Reason for restriction: Forbidden Category "Hacking/Proxy
    Avoidance Systems"
    --------

The public, at large, still does not understand an appropriate
definition for the term "hacker" - so here's the one from the
Jargon File (which Mark and I shamed Matt for not knowing about!
:) )

hacker: n.
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]

1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable
systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most
users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. RFC1392,
the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A
person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the
internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in
particular.

2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who
enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.

3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.

4. A person who is good at programming quickly.

5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does
work using it or on it; as in ‘a Unix hacker’. (Definitions 1
through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)

6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy
hacker, for example.

7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively
overcoming or circumventing limitations.

8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover
sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker,
network hacker. The correct term for this sense is cracker.

The term ‘hacker’ also tends to connote membership in the global
community defined by the net (see the network. For discussion of
some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A
Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to
subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic).

It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to
describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something
of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which
new members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego
satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but
if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled
bogus). See also geek, wannabee.

This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the
1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab.
We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this
entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the
mid-1950s.

http://catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html

best,
-- 
Paul Ivanov
http://pirsquared.org | GPG/PGP key id: 0x0F3E28F7