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The quoted post is also pretty insightful, all things considered: "Anonymous is not a group of hackers. Anonymous is more like gremlins. They are hyperactive a

The quoted post is also pretty insightful, all things considered: "Anonymous is not a group of hackers. Anonymous is more like gremlins. They are hyperactive adolescents in search of amusement and joy, which they often get by upsetting people and making messes. That’s what was happening here." Which applies to script kiddies in general, really. (Maybe some day the media will understand this.) I think "gremlins" is a good term - they're not necessarily kids (or using scripts, these days), and it doesn't imply competence: they're just acting destructive because they're bored.

froo 18y ago
For those who know anything about the Warhammer "Universe"... I find Anonymous are basically like the Ork Race. They will continually fight amongst themselves until something riles them up or a someone suggests an idea (like a very temporary leader), then they will and go off to mess with something (Waaaagggh!) until they finally get bored of that and go back to fighting amongst each other. I find that's the best way to think about it. There is no real motivation for doing what they do apart from the relief of boredom, it's just a swirling maelstrom of conflict. The only thing you would want to do is not give them a reason to direct it anywhere.
- silentbicycle 18y ago
  I don't know the game, but I follow...
- sown 18y ago
  This is how most of humanity reacts to internet access.
iamdave 18y ago
I wouldn't use the phrase script kiddies to describe 4chan since a great deal of them actually know what they're doing, I'd be so bold to say the overwhelming majority actually are very intelligent on what they're doing.
- silentbicycle 18y ago
  It's neutral on whether they're intelligent or not, the idea is that they're mischievous and destructive because they're bored.
  - iamdave 18y ago
    Well sure, I appreciate your point but don't forget that some of the biggest innovative breakthroughs that we use to this day came from hackers being bored and doing things they shouldn't. Those were probably considered destructive then. Now, I'm not condoning what this person did. I'm not saying go around trying to gain unauthorized access to a politician's computer; but instead we've got to look at these things from multiple angles instead of immediately jumping on the 'These actions are purely irresponsible and negative', true enough.
    - hugh 18y ago
      don't forget that some of the biggest innovative breakthroughs that we use to this day came from hackers being bored and doing things they shouldn't. Such as? We need to be careful to distinguish between two types of "shouldn't". There's the "shouldn't" that's merely against some kind of arbitrary rules, and there's the "shouldn't" that's actually immoral because it hurts people. Plenty of useful things were invented by breaking stupid rules, but few were invented by actually being a malicious jerk.
      - froo 18y ago
        Such as? I dunno about you, but I would call penicillin a pretty significant hack.
        silentbicycle 18y ago
        Could you explain the connection? It sounds like you're implying penicillin was discovered by being a malicious jerk. (And re: the gremlin thing, I was thinking of people doing things that would generally be considered stupid vandalism, but I don't want to split hairs.)

froo 18y ago

For those who know anything about the Warhammer "Universe"... I find Anonymous are basically like the Ork Race. They will continually fight amongst themselves until something riles them up or a someone suggests an idea (like a very temporary leader), then they will and go off to mess with something (Waaaagggh!) until they finally get bored of that and go back to fighting amongst each other. I find that's the best way to think about it. There is no real motivation for doing what they do apart from the relief of boredom, it's just a swirling maelstrom of conflict. The only thing you would want to do is not give them a reason to direct it anywhere.

silentbicycle 18y ago
I don't know the game, but I follow...
sown 18y ago
This is how most of humanity reacts to internet access.

iamdave 18y ago

I wouldn't use the phrase script kiddies to describe 4chan since a great deal of them actually know what they're doing, I'd be so bold to say the overwhelming majority actually are very intelligent on what they're doing.

silentbicycle 18y ago
It's neutral on whether they're intelligent or not, the idea is that they're mischievous and destructive because they're bored.
- iamdave 18y ago
  Well sure, I appreciate your point but don't forget that some of the biggest innovative breakthroughs that we use to this day came from hackers being bored and doing things they shouldn't. Those were probably considered destructive then. Now, I'm not condoning what this person did. I'm not saying go around trying to gain unauthorized access to a politician's computer; but instead we've got to look at these things from multiple angles instead of immediately jumping on the 'These actions are purely irresponsible and negative', true enough.
  - hugh 18y ago
    don't forget that some of the biggest innovative breakthroughs that we use to this day came from hackers being bored and doing things they shouldn't. Such as? We need to be careful to distinguish between two types of "shouldn't". There's the "shouldn't" that's merely against some kind of arbitrary rules, and there's the "shouldn't" that's actually immoral because it hurts people. Plenty of useful things were invented by breaking stupid rules, but few were invented by actually being a malicious jerk.
    - froo 18y ago
      Such as? I dunno about you, but I would call penicillin a pretty significant hack.
      - silentbicycle 18y ago
        Could you explain the connection? It sounds like you're implying penicillin was discovered by being a malicious jerk. (And re: the gremlin thing, I was thinking of people doing things that would generally be considered stupid vandalism, but I don't want to split hairs.)