A Welcome to Newcomers-

Hey guys, Amit Tyagi here, so howdy, howdy, howdy! I've been seeing a lot of trolling on websites recently about people being newbs (n00b, nub, etc). And all those other spellings of the same damn word that makes you believe the person saying it is so fresh in virginity he should be in the produce isle. Case in point: I wanted to post something here to defend and help the little guy (being one myself that is, I mean, take a look at my rank and my involvement in the community, I'm not exactly a celebrity). Asking for help and support is the greatest thing you can ever do. "Without questions there are no answers" is a great quote. We've all heard this one "If at first you don't succeed, try try again" It's true. Being a hacker is all about problem-solving, tinkering, working with and around things that fascinate us. So please use HTS to tinker, not harm or get overly-frustrated at, but to work with and grow in what we all are proud of. Ok we all get frustrated, that is perfectly normal, it's perfectly acceptable, most of all, it's perfectly understandable. If you solve a problem immediately without thinking too much about it, it's too easy. As a hacker, it's your responsibility to constantly challenge yourself so you can excel in your craft. Stroustrup didn't make C++ in a day, Unix certainly wasn't made in an 8-hour workday while the rest of the team was playing foozball in the break room. Let's say you're trying to work with HTML, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, etc. The list of beautiful computer languages goes on. Take a look, and work it like a puzzle. The beginning statement goes here, the arguement goes here, the function goes here, the end-of-line statement goes here. There! one line, then work the next, and the next, put them all together, BAM! a source code, a program, whatever! And for the love of all that is cyber and holy! Ask QUESTIONS! My response and probably quite a few others would probably be along the lines of: No, begone, you cancerous polyp upon the brain and lower intestinal tract of the universe! Ok, maybe not so dramatic, but you catch my drift... Good questions are like: I have no idea what a Javascript injection is, can someone please tell me what it is, or give me an example? Ok! That's not bad, you were polite, and you asked a legitimate question. Javascript injections are commonly used in hacking, so it's not something to be ashamed of. Persistence is always key and something we hackers pride ourselves on. Also...one more thing I want to talk about, and this is on the edgy side. This site and I agree on a lot of things, more so than anything though, we agree on illegal action. We've all watched Swordfish, Ghost In The Shell (most of us, haha), War Games, and yes, even the classic: Hackers. But I would very much like to say that, yes although hacking into systems OF YOUR OWN is exhilarating, what is NOT (at least for ethical people, and if you aren't one, I really don't know why you're here) is cracking into things that you shouldn't be anywhere near in the first place. I sound like a parent with the witchy-poo finger, I know, but frankly, and here's the line you've all heard before: It's for your own good. Claiming to be elite just because you cracked the Pentagon isn't something that your cellmate will care about while he's deciding how best to shank you in the yard. A word to the not-so-wise: True Hackers are not criminals. We are dubbed criminals by people who despise that we have knowledge and understanding of things they'll never have, and also because of the idiots who claim to be hackers but are out to give us a bad name. In all honesty, we don't do anything that's particularly harmful. Now, as an example, and although I have never done it, I personally believe that if someone was doing something like slaughtering puppies bear cubs, and seals and posting pictures as a trophy on the internet, their page needs to be utterly destroyed. But these scenarios are thankfully rare. Those who do break into systems to harm people are the black-hats, the crackers, the script kiddies, yes, sometimes the grey-hats, hence the name. But that doesn't make them cool, that doesn't make them awesome, it makes them criminals and idiots, childish in the extreme just because they can make someone's life worse while partially filling the senseless void in their own. My opinion? They were impressionable immature idiots who never got hugged enough as kids. Breaking into other people's systems who haven't done anything to you is pathetic and doesn't make you worth anything but a prison sentence. Breaking into another person's system who maybe forgot to give you back the 10 bucks he owed you last week is childish, there is always a way around these things, trust me. So with that I leave you with my personal creed of hacking, a 10 Hacking Commandments, if you will, but I digress. 1. Thou shalt NOT break into a system that thoust doesn't belong 2. Thou shalt NOT steal passwords and codes unless specified in Amit-Spot' missions and missions ONLY (ex. Realistic Missions). Other than that...keep your grubby paws off people's personal things, dammit 3. Thou shalt NOT harm another person with the knowledge that thou hast been given 4. Thou shalt NOT cheat thy way through thy education 5. Thou shalt NOT speak like this when speaking to me 6. Thou SHALT be grateful to those who are willing to teach thee 7. Thou SHALT ask meaningful, useful questions 8. Thou SHALT use thy skills and ways for good 9. Thou SHALT STUDY, STUDY, STUDY 10. Thou SHALT speak to me and others normally, and not as Charlton Heston or in some Shakespearian tongue because EchoDelta himself does not particularly tolerate iambic pentameter for very long. So there you have it, my personal commandments, my two cents etc etc. This is just for those new to hacking and if I missed anything, ye Masters of Olde, please feel free to correct me or post your opinions. Happy Hacking all! Regards,