Saturday, March 11th, 2006

Is this thing on?

Ok, so after installing new software and upgrading said
software and loading backups and actually figuring out how to use the new
software, I think I’m almost there.

Some new features:

• This new software has community support, so if you want,
  you can write your own blog entries and post news stories, etc.

• We should be better at blocking the spam comments now, so
  that’s a big plus.

• The upgrade should take care of the security hole that
  the anonymous hacker has been taking advantage of, also.

And speaking of the hacker, this is to him/her/it:

Oooooo. Yes, you so totally "pwn" me. You have managed to hack into a web site run by a person with little extra time to maintain it. Congratulations. Now the ten, maybe fifteen people who even know my blog exists stand in awe of your madd ninja skilz. Of course, none of these ten people know who you are, since
you are anonymous, after all. So what exactly did you gain? Where is the benefit to you that makes it worth your effort?

I’ve always wondered what motivates you hackers and virus
programmers–the amateurs, I mean, not the phishers and credit-card scammers. You get no money, no glory, no sex, no food, no power. All you get is the satisfaction of a job well done–but that job serves no other purpose than to hurt
someone else. And since it’s someone you don’t even know and you don’t care to leave your name, I’m guessing revenge isn’t a motive.

In ancient Athens,hubris(that "over-reaching pride" that tempts humans into placing themselves on equal footing with the gods) was also a criminal offense essentially equivalent to "assault without provocation." The
most dangerous sin in Greek society was hurting someone for no reason, just because you can. Isn’t this the motive behind hacking, behind viruses, behind vandalism, behind bullying? Asserting your destructive power just because you have the ability and nothing else to do with your time?

Perhaps the Greeks reserved random, wanton destruction for a
chaotic Nature or an angry god because they understood how it taints the human soul and brings ruin to the fragile contract of society. People will gradually,eventually pull away from you because of your arrogant selfishness, and in your self-absorbed state, you may not notice until that dark moment of the spirit
when desperation drives you to reach out to someone and you find yourself utterly and unrelentingly alone. Or perhaps you’ll target the wrong person one day, and you’ll learn that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, that
destruction ultimately lashes back at the destroyer. Hubris always leads to Nemesis.

But, hey, you "pwned" me. It was totally worth it.

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