You could always hit her back at home where nobody sees it. All you have now is a bunch of lost friendships.

Talking about double standards.

Papadimoulis indeed uses the word 'atone' in the linked announcement.

Seriously, why does it always have to be about sin and hell or fear in general? Can't we all just write good code?

When I'm famous I'll be auctioning my /. account. See how well it fares:

Yes, there is something different. A /. account is a durable device that lasts many years. It will build character as it wears.

[rambling about computers redacted]

Also, /. accounts are very classy. A lot of writers still use them for many reasons I've heard. They like the satisfying sounds it makes. You can't go back and edit things you've just written. It separates you from technology. It separates you from office work. You can haul it anywhere it work without worrying about battery life. You can't get distracted and browse slashdot...

Sorry about the last sentence, I was browsing slashdot while typing.

Large shell scripts are basically the foundation of /.

So, you're saying, we're going the way of Reddit?

But what's more dangerous, the bag of tricks in the hands of a few skilled people or an open bulletin board with 0day-exploits for everyone?

What makes this question even more complicated for me is that Secunia, the people who protect us from exploits if we pay them, is sponsoring this practice.

I just love the way you put "geek", "myself" and "stigma" into one sentence.

Enjoy your mindset!

I think the parent is talking about those "modern geeks", those superficial, macbook wielding, super star programmers. You know, the cool kind of geek, who know all about the shiny tech the jocks and their girlfriends like to play with. They're real popular nowadays, too, because they can fix your Vista notebook or setup your HD home cinema or even write a witty reply on craigslist for you.

But don't tell them anything about tinkering with old tech. Why would you play Quake on a TRS-80 when you can play Gears of War an a HDTV!? You'd sound like a total nerd to them ;)

The Antisec guys just have a problem with "security experts" who earn their living by doing nothing but posting exploits (without contacting anyone but Secunia) and generally spreading fear.

I haven't really understood their views on non-disclosure but my guess is they'd rather have no disclosure at all than the farce that is full disclosure.

Spoken like a true Software Architect!?

How about using a technology that doesn't need children crawl inside big machines, in the first place? But you're right. How dare I propose such a thing?

Seriously, "not killing children unless there's a bug" isn't that great a software feature. My guess is you've been working with C++ for far too long. Maybe you should take a look around you and outside the C++ world. Modern software development is more like procreation :)

And your paraphrase is wrong. God isn't responsible for letting the kid die. It was the guy who's specified the child go into the machine.

*Beavis voice* He said "denigrating", heh heh.

I'm not from the USA, mind you. And maybe I'm too sensitive to your customary vocabulary. Just seemed funny to me. In an ironic way. Speaking about cultures and racism and all. You could have used "belittle" or "defame" but you used "denigrate" ;-)

I still don't agree. Many great articles and documentaries have been produced in the last decades just to tackle these theories. Even people who had no doubt there was a moon landing could get insight into subjects they would never have touched by themselves. And I'm sure some of the loonies also learned that their doubts were just silly.

If everybody had just taken the fact for what it is, all of that would have been lost. Worst of all the moon landing itself, after all this time, would have become just another chapter in a history book. It all would have vanished if people hadn't kept on nagging us about it.

And yeah I know that was not really your point. I agree that there are crazy people who will never learn. The problem is sometimes you can't tell the crazy and uneducated apart. And when you dismiss them all, you're making a mistake.

Did you move to a suburb because inner city housing is too depressing? Have you stopped watching world news because it depresses you, too? Did your children's education become better when you stopped caring about it and pushed all responsibility onto the teachers?

Just because people stop caring, the problem won't suddenly disappear. If you don't educate the stupid, their ideas will become the foundation of their culture.

The problem is, every single American could start a "social program" on their own or, even more effectively, with the help of their peers - if they really desired... The advancement of humanity on the other hand can never be done by a single person. No matter how much he or she desired.

The next time you see those people from that age group, tell them they're all selfish pricks. The only reason they favour "social programs" is because that's what the cool kids do now.

After reading this comment I felt the need to point out the practices of the Secunia sponsored "Full Disclosure" mailing list whose supporters I called the Full Disclosure movement.

This is the message that credits a guy called SBerry for "discovering" the vulnerability. All that guy did was take the testcase from the Mozilla bug tracker attach a payload to it and publish it as his exploit, ready to be consumed by every skript kiddie with a subscription to that list or the milw0rm exploit RSS feed.

And Secunia even have the nerve calling the exploit the original advisory.

I'm not suggesting we hide all bugs and actually I don't like Mozilla's practice of doing so, for the same reasons that you suggest.

What I'm suggesting is that people like SBerry, milw0rm and Secunia get punished for what they do. An exploit is no security advisory! As the name suggests its only purpose is to exploit a known vulnerability which in almost all cases happens with criminal intend. Secunia is promoting this practice by giving credit to the exploit writers (and who knows what else). milw0rm is one of their henchmen hosting all the exploits. SBerry is one of the many misguided hackers, yearning for approval, who partake in this "security practice" called Full Disclosure.

But you know, I'm just a developer who was raised a hacker. I would never call me a security expert but I really have an uneasy feeling knowing that the Security industry is promoting ready-made exploits, which I think is actually quite insecure.