Re: Dealing with "Teach me how to hack" emails?

[Ben Jackson <bbj () mayhemiclabs com>]

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"
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