4 ms·

Not hacker, not news.

yashap 8y ago
That goes for plenty of articles here, I’ve always felt that Hacker News was for any articles that people in tech might find interesting. I thought this was a great piece, and really well written, I’m glad it was posted here.
- pthreads 8y ago
  I second that. Also, as a bonus it was through this article that I found out about lithub.
  - rrdharan 8y ago
    Same. I’m also cynically surprised GitHub hasn’t sued them for trademark infringement...
    - bonesss 8y ago
      They'd have to prove marketplace confusion -- that an ordinary consumer might buy some LitHub services and believe them to be GitHub services. If GitLabs changed their name to 'GitHlub', they'd be too close. But a shipping company named GIT-HUB might be totally ok if their logos and ads were distinct.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
40four 8y ago
As per the HN guidelines, on topic posts = "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity". Maybe it doesn't qualify as news but the writing is fantastic & it certainly satisfied my intellect! I'm happy to see this here.
shard 8y ago
Unlike you, I found that the author discussed many instances of hacking in the article. He hacked social conventions in order to walk freely in places where otherwise it could be dangerous for him to walk. Social engineering is a very appropriate topic for Hacker News.
- kazinator 8y ago
  > Social engineering is a very appropriate topic for Hacker News. Certainly, if you take "hacker" to be the mainstream definition corresponding to "cracker".
  - kalleboo 8y ago
    The Y Combinator application form famously has this question on it: "Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage." A case of social engineering would certainly be a valid response
    - kazinator 8y ago
      Perhaps due to my imagination being feeble, I can't see how that could be about anything but some sort of con job.
twblalock 8y ago
Who put you in charge?
- dang 8y ago
  Please don't be rude, even if another comment is wrong. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
TheCoelacanth 8y ago
From the guidelines about what is on topic: > anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity
- mrarjen 8y ago
  Exactly, having anyone expand their hacker bubble and see the world in new ways.
throwawayh9i 8y ago
I swear, comments like this only come out of the woodwork on articles about things like racism or sexism.
- dang 8y ago
  Pretty sure that's sample bias. People definitely make such complaints about other articles that don't match their expectation of this site.
jasonkostempski 8y ago
I'm a flaming flaggot around here (I truly thought I just coined that expression, but [1]). I almost flagged this one, but a black friend of mine recently had Walking While Black story of his own, so I read it. Lo and behold, the story covered his scenario, waving to a cop, first thing. I hear about things like this all the time online; from rappers and comedians; occasional news story; once in a great while, a first-person story from a colored friend. I usually rationalize it away thinking: "That's really only a problem in backwoods towns, far, far from here. Here you get the obligatory asshole cop every now and then, of course, but it's not the norm." This story made me realize A) it doesn't have to be the norm, it just has to be enough to cause someone to ALWAYS be on alert, to be a life altering problem B) No matter how quick I get at dismissing the instinctual thought pattern "different person is scary", the fact remains, I have those thoughts and they likely affect my actions in a way noticeable to other humans. Neither of those realizations are a surprise to me, but this story convinced me I haven't thought critically enough about them. Getting this stubborn old mind to reconsider it's position is an epic hack. [1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flaggot https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flaggot

That goes for plenty of articles here, I’ve always felt that Hacker News was for any articles that people in tech might find interesting. I thought this was a great piece, and really well written, I’m glad it was posted here.

pthreads 8y ago
I second that. Also, as a bonus it was through this article that I found out about lithub.
- rrdharan 8y ago
  Same. I’m also cynically surprised GitHub hasn’t sued them for trademark infringement...
  - bonesss 8y ago
    They'd have to prove marketplace confusion -- that an ordinary consumer might buy some LitHub services and believe them to be GitHub services. If GitLabs changed their name to 'GitHlub', they'd be too close. But a shipping company named GIT-HUB might be totally ok if their logos and ads were distinct.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

40four 8y ago

As per the HN guidelines, on topic posts = "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity". Maybe it doesn't qualify as news but the writing is fantastic & it certainly satisfied my intellect! I'm happy to see this here.

shard 8y ago

Unlike you, I found that the author discussed many instances of hacking in the article. He hacked social conventions in order to walk freely in places where otherwise it could be dangerous for him to walk. Social engineering is a very appropriate topic for Hacker News.

kazinator 8y ago
> Social engineering is a very appropriate topic for Hacker News. Certainly, if you take "hacker" to be the mainstream definition corresponding to "cracker".
- kalleboo 8y ago
  The Y Combinator application form famously has this question on it: "Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage." A case of social engineering would certainly be a valid response
  - kazinator 8y ago
    Perhaps due to my imagination being feeble, I can't see how that could be about anything but some sort of con job.

twblalock 8y ago

Who put you in charge?

dang 8y ago
Please don't be rude, even if another comment is wrong. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

TheCoelacanth 8y ago

From the guidelines about what is on topic: > anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity

mrarjen 8y ago
Exactly, having anyone expand their hacker bubble and see the world in new ways.

throwawayh9i 8y ago

I swear, comments like this only come out of the woodwork on articles about things like racism or sexism.

dang 8y ago
Pretty sure that's sample bias. People definitely make such complaints about other articles that don't match their expectation of this site.

jasonkostempski 8y ago

I'm a flaming flaggot around here (I truly thought I just coined that expression, but [1]). I almost flagged this one, but a black friend of mine recently had Walking While Black story of his own, so I read it. Lo and behold, the story covered his scenario, waving to a cop, first thing. I hear about things like this all the time online; from rappers and comedians; occasional news story; once in a great while, a first-person story from a colored friend. I usually rationalize it away thinking: "That's really only a problem in backwoods towns, far, far from here. Here you get the obligatory asshole cop every now and then, of course, but it's not the norm." This story made me realize A) it doesn't have to be the norm, it just has to be enough to cause someone to ALWAYS be on alert, to be a life altering problem B) No matter how quick I get at dismissing the instinctual thought pattern "different person is scary", the fact remains, I have those thoughts and they likely affect my actions in a way noticeable to other humans. Neither of those realizations are a surprise to me, but this story convinced me I haven't thought critically enough about them. Getting this stubborn old mind to reconsider it's position is an epic hack. [1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flaggot https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flaggot