[submitted as letter to the editor of Wired in response to an
 article on Carolyn Meinel and her Happy Hacker project]

rants@wired.com

Hack and Ye Shall Learn

Physically ill is the only way to describe how I feel
after this crap. This article demonstrates the true
nature of Carolyn's relationship with hacking. Money.

What this article doesn't tell you is of Carolyn's
desire to write books, and lots of them. The only
problem: imagine a book about contemporary glass
blowing being written by Wired. That's right,
the most unqualified person writing about a topic
they know nothing about.

It also doesn't tell you about the deal she is trying
to cut with Ira Winkler (Computer Crime Investigator)
to set up a network for hackers to play on. Now why
would they do such a thing? To keep an eye out on
who is who, what methods are being used, and keep
tabs on hackers.

The other thing people need to know is the incredible
lack of knowledge Carolyn really possesses. Carolyn's
posts about hacking are continually corrected by
several people on various mail lists because of the
lack of technical content she spews. What little real
information she does present is often inaccurate to
the point of being ridiculous. She has made it more
than apparent for the past few months that she doesn't
know the first thing about hacking, let alone being
able to *read* output from a system.

Like many journalists before her, she is only intent
upon making money off the whole "hacking era". If you
are looking to learn about hacking, all the power to
you, minus her pitiful misleading influence.

Damien Sorder
jericho@dimensional.com