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Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails?
From: Ben Jackson <bbj () mayhemiclabs com>
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:38:26 -0500
On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 2:16 PM, Adrian Crenshaw <irongeek () irongeek com> wrote:
Hi all, Many on this list run a blog/podcast/etc and I imagine like me you get a lot of "Teach me how to hack" or "do this for me" emails. How do you handle them?
My Alter Ego had a podcast and a... rather strange website (a database of pay phone) for a while (albeit approaching 5 years ago) and we would regularly get e-mailing falling into those categories. After a bit I drew up canned "I'm sorry" responses: #1 - "Help me hack in X" - I'm sorry, what you're asking for is illegal and I am unable to help you, you should really consult a lawyer before proceeding, yadda yadda yadda. #2 - "Help me learn how to Hack" - I'm sorry, while your intentions seem genuine, one cannot really teach someone "hacking" -- I would suggest you check out resources X, Y, and Z.... -- (We had a fairly large forum that folks participated in that welcomed new folks, so this could be difficult in most situations) #3 - "Help me with a seemingly legit request" - I'm sorry, I can't help you with that as I have no way of knowing who you are nor that the request is genuine. I did occasionally help someone out who e-mailed us, either by helping them direct (The one that pops to mind is a woman who wanted information on a pay phone that she said her runaway daughter called her from. Really, what was the harm?) or putting them in touch with someone who I think could help them, but I can say that 95%+ of my responses began with "I'm sorry" -- Ben Jackson - Mayhemic Labs bbj () mayhemiclabs com - http://www.mayhemiclabs.com - +1-508-296-0267 "Assume that what is in the power of one man to do, is in the power of another" _______________________________________________ Pauldotcom mailing list Pauldotcom () mail pauldotcom com http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com
Current thread:
- Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? Adrian Crenshaw (Feb 20)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? Kevin Shaw (Feb 20)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? Joel Esler (Feb 20)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? John Strand (Feb 20)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? Joel Esler (Feb 20)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? Mvharley2 (Feb 20)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? John Strand (Feb 20)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? Ben Jackson (Feb 22)
- Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails? Joel Gunderson (Feb 22)