hackthissite community

[ChazzaD]

The response I'm most likely going to get for writing this is probably going to further prove my point, so any intelligent explanations or reasoning for what I am about to describe would be appreciated.

I haven't been contributing to this websites community, however I have been around silently for a while, and looking at some of the other posts on this site and the way they have been responded to is a real shame.
People who are new to this site, and hacking in general, post a question/query on the boards here and are quite consistently met with snobbish bullying (which appears to be directed by the more well set members of the forum, moderators are guilty of this too).
I think that it's a real shame, as it makes the site appear unfriendly with the exclusive club of experienced hackers who scoff at those who are new to hacking (such as myself) and at those who make the catastrophic mistake of not using perfect grammar.
I have previously posted a question regarding sharecash surveys which can be found here : viewtopic.php?f=76&t=5240 (in the graveyard section)
My question may have been interpreted as illegal perhaps? Although that is debatable considering that I'm filling out these surveys for free and getting nothing in return (but that's a different issue). My first thought at seeing my post in the graveyard section was initially that I would have liked a response, at least explaining why I was wrong to post it. However, on looking at the previous mentioned posts of other new people, I'm somewhat glad that the army of hacker elitists and grammar Nazi's didn't turn up to destroy my already low opinion of this sites community further.

Sorry for the long winded moan, but I think it's a waste of the talent of the people on this site if they can't be civil and simply redirect whoever has done something which goes against the sites rules rather than the normal conduct of trying to gang up and humiliate the person.

I look forward to any responses, if this doesn't immediately get put in the graveyard section again...

[Draymire]

I will admit i have seen some responses like you say however i have found everyone here to be ready to help almost any way possible. Assuming you have put forth the effort first and are actually looking for knowledge rather than how to hack (insert site here).

As for the grammar Nazi thing, who would you rather help the guy who knows how to write sentences or this guy:

h3lp 1 w4nt 2 H4x0r t3h 1n+3rw3bz

[Goatboy]

We get this complaint a lot, and here's my usual response:

The reason we may seem hostile to new people is because many come here not to learn, but to have the work done for them. We don't want any of that. If you cannot help yourself, why should we help you? Sure that may sound elitist, but if you think about it for a minute, it's the appropriate response to such an insult. Yes, an insult. Coming here and asking to be spoon-fed (or worse, IV-dripped) by people who have spent years learning is nothing short of an insult.

So yea, I see your point. I also think it's not as bad as you make it out to be. We have a reputation for helping those who deserve it. Not to brag or anything, but I have personally spent time outside of the forums (on IRC and IM on occasion) helping get people started, and I am certain that others have as well. If someone honestly wants to learn, we will help them.

One last point I'd like to touch on is the sheer amount of - to put it delicately - bullshit we have to put up with. Every week, we see a few threads asking about blatantly illegal things. Now I don't expect people to read the entire ToS before posting, but they should at least see the "HackThisSite does not support illegal activities" warning. We close those threads to protect the community from legal troubles. And what do the posters do? They make alt accounts and spam us.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I do hope you consider things a little differently from now on.

ADD: This may sound like some of the flaming you mentioned, but it needs to be said. I just reviewed your thread, and you fell squarely into two categories: people who make one post asking for help, and people asking about illegal things. Now we could argue back and forth all day about what's legal and what's not, but we need to err on the side of caution here. It's the same thing with spoilers. If someone posts a walkthrough but blurs out the answers, it still needs to be removed.

Also, the attitude at the end of your post here is exactly the kind of bullshit we have to put up with.

[Monica]

I understand it may seem that way, but you need to realize.. we're NOT here to hold your hand and guide you through teh wurld of h4xing (kkthx.)

We do provide useful resources, if only the user is willing to learn and willing to ask appropriate questions. We get questions like, "hi can u plz help me hack facebook????" Do you really expect us to help? Do you understand why we cannot help regarding certain topics? We do receive questions like that on a daily basis. You know what happens?

1.) Flames and lulz
2.) No resources
3.) Topic deleted/locked
4.) Moar flames

[Bren2010]

I understand your complaint in some ways, and not in others.

First of all, you mentioned the bullying. At least in the threads I've commented in, we're as civil as the person we're talking to. Once they begin throwing a fit, so do we. Secondly, the use of bad grammar implies that they didn't even bother to think their entire post through. I can actually relate to that. Whenever I'm in a hurry, I'll type something up real quick and think it's fine. However, when I look back at it later it actually says "I fo got to tall yuo sometig".

Also, your completely ignoring our side of the argument. You say they post a question as if it's completely innocent. Most of the time they are requesting us to do something illegal for them. This is not hacks for sale, it's a community to help you learn. We don't take to people who just come in and demand help hacking Facebook accounts.

However, I have seen when people post a question correctly and people still come in and do exactly what your talking about, and for that I am sorry, but I still must say that happens very rarely.

Once again, I'm sorry you feel that way, but try it from our point of view.

[Goatboy]

I totally forgot to mention the grammar and spelling.

In the words of Eric S. Raymond:

If your writing is semi-literate, ungrammatical, and riddled with misspellings, many hackers (including myself) will tend to ignore you. While sloppy writing does not invariably mean sloppy thinking, we've generally found the correlation to be strong — and we have no use for sloppy thinkers. If you can't yet write competently, learn to.

This cannot be any closer to the truth. It doesn't mean you have to send each post to an editor before you submit it, but you should at least make a conscious effort to come across as intelligent.

[msbachman]

I thought the way the OP did for the longest time, until I started to at least attempt to help most of the people who were asking a question. It got old quicker than I thought.

For me personally, the number one annoyance I have isn't bad grammar or the subject matter (e.g. "hacking facebook"), I try to help anyone I can; rather, it's people who want a quick answer to something and want to use other members to get it.

Idk the percentage, maybe 30%, maybe more, of posts are one-timers, people who come here to get a specific answer and haven't researched it a) enough or b) at all. Dealing with them isn't fun to say the least, and since I'm not their employee, I really shouldn't feel obligated (nor should others) to give them a freebie of some sort.

[sanddbox]

Why do I see these kind of threads pop up after someone has ONE THREAD that goes unanswered? Here's a hint: Either we don't know the answer, we don't want to answer, or you're not deserving of the answer (and you won't even learn from it). It's not our duty to help everyone who asks for help - we try to help whoever genuinely wants to learn, but we don't have time to cater for the ones that want us to hack teh f4cebookz.

I'd write more but I have to go now.

[Vulpine]

Bear in mind that this site is regularly populated by a collection of individuals who are in possession of a great deal of intelligence (No names. I'm not stroking any egos.). An unfortunate side-effect of this, to the rest of the world, is a degree of confidence that is easily mistaken for elitist arrogance. This is mostly a matter of erroneous perception (yours).

From the preceding replies, you should have a pretty clear-cut idea as to why your first question went unanswered. Since it was also your one and only post, your motive was glaringly apparent. Compare this to threads containing questions which do get answered, and you'll have a good idea of how to craft questions regarding specific illicit activities. You don't walk up to a Harlem drug dealer asking, "Will you sell me some cocaine?", for example.

[thetan]

I remember having an in depth conversation with the now AWOL user \alive a long ass time ago.

The simple fact of the matter is flaming is an integral part of hacker society. It's been this way since the beginning. It's not only a method of harsh teaching and self policing, it's also a right of passage.

Some of the greatest and key players in the hacker community are notorious for flame wars (Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Bill Gates and countless others can all be found flaming the living shit out each other in mailing lists and everywhere else)

Flaming is not only an entertaining thing to do, it's protective of a community. Back in the day of the news group (usenet, and smaller nntp networks), the only real way to discourage a user into leaving a community was to flame the living shit out of them, which would work for the most part.

Little offense should be taken towards flaming. Instead you should consider it more of an evaluation because this is exactly what the "attacker" is doing to you. He's poking and prodding to see if you're worthy any ones time.

FLAME ALL DAY ALL NIGHT KILL BABIES EAT FUCK BITCHES STAY FROSTY