I don’t call myself a hacker. It’s a title that is earned, not self-appointed. I’m also not an über programmer with “mad skillz” nor am I some sort of script kiddie who makes believe he’s ‘leet like mitnick’ or some such silly thing. I’ve been drawn in by the hacker subculture since the early 90s when I was getting into computers, dialing into BBS’ in the pre-AOL era I became familiar with the scene and found my mind resonated with the hacker mind-set. What began as friendly conversation lead to co-op stuff. I’ve always been artsy/creative so I did ANSI art or design work for anyone who requested it, either in trade for warez or for fun. Anyhow to keep it short, I gained enough prestige with one group that I was encouraged into a more prominent support role which ultimately lead to a leadership position in a whole OTHER group which is a long story. I may tell more if you come off anon ;P or if anyone else is genuinely interested in this stuff. [src]
Weird day today, hmph…
So, I guess I’ll continue on with my story from earlier.
I gained enough prestige with one group (THG) that I was encouraged into a more prominent support role which ultimately lead to a leadership position in a whole OTHER group (MJ12).
The Humble Guys (THG) was a PC warez group where I created cracktros and .NFO files. I especially enjoyed doing nfo files. I was always in a “zen-like” state (high) while doing them in editors like E (PC-DOS), edit (MS-DOS) or later on, ACiDDraw. [code page 437 rEwLz!]
Anyhow, after chumming it up with these humble hackers for some time, exchanging more work for more favors they gradually took more interest in me and even began doing other things like helping to organize parties, etc. At one point they steered me in the direction of a comrade at ACiD Productions for a simple gig (I think someone owed someone else a favor). Afterwards one of the people I collaborated with on the ACiD gig mentioned something about forming a sub group or separate group with a broader focus than just ascii or warez. I said sure but the punchline was yet to come. He tells me that one of the areas of focus was to rain hellfire and brimstone down upon AOL (this is back in ‘95).
I thought it was a joke but he wasn’t laughing, though he was grinning like an imp. “Why?” I asked. “Why the hell not?” he said. “It’ll be like fish in a barrel man, not to mention fun.” I prodded him further on it and turns out the guy just didn’t like the idea of walled gardens, I agreed, but I knew it was just a good excuse to wreak cyber havok. I then asked him who else he had in on this and he tells me that it’s just the two of us so far but that he was “workin” on getting a couple of people he knew to join which I took to mean that they probably weren’t that interested. I tell him to sit tight for a day or two while I go back to my BBS and IRC chill spots to see if I could perhaps raise the interest of a few individuals.
To my surprise it turned out that more than a few were interested, ten to be exact. Many of them with a broad array of talents and nearly half were noted figures in other groups at the time. My comrade was so impressed by my quick corralling of cyber talent that he insisted I take point in the new group, and we called ourselves the Majority Twelve (MJ12).
Would you like to know more? [insert coin]