What is Hackers-IL
From Hackers-IL
Hacker, n.:
1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.
2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.
7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
(from the Jargon File - http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/)
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What is Hackers-IL?
Hackers-IL are a group of computer enthusiasts who enjoy intelligently discussing creative programming and other branches of science and technology . Our discussions tend to be a bit "philosophical" in nature, trying to reach conclusions for things that are debatable or controversial, and trying to bring new techniques and new insights.
Note: From now until forever: we are by no means computer intruders! While some of us are knowledgeable in security, discovering security holes, writing and utilizing exploits, and even are capable of intruding into non-secure systems - we do not sanction the unauthorized invasion of the networked property of others, much less sabotaging it.
The "Hackers" part in "Hackers-IL" means the more traditional and original meaning of hackers, not the media-perpetuated one.
Who are the members of Hackers-IL?
It would be a good generalization to say that most of the active members are Windows-bashing UNIX and Linux enthusiasts. Nevertheless, we do accept Windows hackers, including those who actually like it, as long as they do not bash UNIX and open-source irrationally for non-issues. And naturally, developers of more exotic operating systems, are also more than welcome. We could always use more diversity.
We are mostly educated people. Most of us have a high school education, some of us are still college students, and others have a B.A., B.Sc., M.Sc. or even a Ph.D. We would accept even people who are underage, and believe our discussions are suitable for everyone.
What are the topics of discussions?
We have a wide range of discussion topics: history of computing and technology; various programming languages; software management; high education in Israel and elsewhere; new thought-provoking articles that were published by various persons on the Internet; computer or science humour; the various facets of the open-source world; operating systems; famous or not-so-famous books; and the list goes on.
What we are not is a help-desk. We do not tell people how to write their homework, or how to do X and Y in Foolang or Barware. There are many other specialized forums on the Net that can help you with it: we are not the place for it. While we do discuss design issues in existing programs, or mention such techniques, we are not going to write your code for you.
Furthermore, it was decided that discussions that are philosophical or political (or such that deal with psychology, literature and other non-exact sciences), etc. are off-topic on the list, except when branching from a more on-topic discussion. To accumodate for this problem a separate mailing list (Philosophy-IL) was created, and you may wish to join it.
How is Hackers-IL affiliated with Israel?
The IL in Hackers-IL is the country code of Israel. Nevertheless, the discussions in Hackers-IL are almost entirely in English in the ASCII character set. Sometimes we use UTF-8 if there is a good need, but it's the exception rather than the rule.
We are affiliated with Israel in the sense that most of us are living in Israel, interested in it, visited it, etc. That does not mean we do not accept foreigners or people without any strong affiliation to Israel into the mailing list. We would gladly accept anynone and do not discriminate against any person.
However, we hold ourselves some "Israeli-oriented" rights like transliterating Hebrew phrases inside the English, translating idioms from Hebrew to English without looking for an English equivalent, linking to Israeli or Hebrew articles, discussing current Israeli affairs (usually with a universal lesson), etc.
Most of are discussions are entirely universal, though. If you still don't like it, feel free to start your own Hackers-Llewellynlland node in your region. We will gladly link to you, or post a message announcing the inception of your new community.
