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Hints and Hacks (QST)

Discussion in 'General Announcements' started by KK5R, Apr 15, 2018.

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  1. KV6O

    KV6O Ham Member QRZ Page

  2. KK5R

    KK5R Ham Member QRZ Page

    You are dense. TOO dense. Don't you have some other forum to present YOUR opinions?

    The PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE and Consensus is that Hack is a Negative and not a Positive.

    You focus on words and not meanings, huh?

    If a definition is questionable, it's questionable. Trying to twist and shape it to YOUR emotive feelings is not going to sway anyone with a normal, thinking brain.

    By the way, that Meriam-Webster link says this:

    6 a : a usually creatively improvised solution to a computer hardware or programming problem or limitation

    Get it? IT'S A COMPUTER TERM. Not related to ham radio experimentation.
     
  3. KV6O

    KV6O Ham Member QRZ Page

    Yep. I got it alright. You just go ahead and tell those hacks at the ARRL they got it all wrong! And Websters too! Looks like Dictionary.com screwed up as well -"Informal. a tip, trick, or efficient method for doing or managing something: hacks for holiday entertaining; ". Yes, there are "negative" definitions. Is your claim that "Kink" is free of any negative connotations? Context is key, and hams are considers some of the original hackers. Google "ham radio hacks" - by your definition I should get a bunch of hams that couldn't cut it. :D

    Not sure I get this at all, why did you post your letter on QRZ when sending it to the ARRL would suffice? Are we not entitled to our opinions? I must be dense...
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2018
  4. AG6QR

    AG6QR Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Si linguis non mutantur, nos loqui Latina. Aut aliquid senior.

    Hack may have had a negative connotation for some, at some time in the past. But at least since the 1980s, I've heard it used mostly with a positive connotation.

    Doesn't everybody read https://hackaday.com? Among other interesting things, they have quite a few ham radio articles, but their ham radio articles tend to be more about building unique radio gear, not buying and using appliances.

    In the comments on the articles, a frequent theme is some variation on, "that's not good enough to be called a hack".
     
    AG5DB likes this.
  5. KV6O

    KV6O Ham Member QRZ Page

  6. KV6O

    KV6O Ham Member QRZ Page

    BTW, October 2017 was the first issue with "Hints and Hacks", which included an explanation from the editor. You might want to read it as it addressed your original question as to why.
     
    AG5DB likes this.
  7. KK5R

    KK5R Ham Member QRZ Page

    You ARE dense. I posted the letter with the impetus of why change something if if does not need changing and that it has negative connotations. Go ahead, prefer the negative (hack) and ignore the positive (kinks) and pretend that YOUR opinion trumps the consensus opinion.

    DENSE...
     
  8. KK5R

    KK5R Ham Member QRZ Page

    Reason? Because qrz.com did post it but the ARRL did not put it in their Correspondence column. At least qrz.com is honest enough for someone to have an opinion and not ignore it.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2018
  9. KK5R

    KK5R Ham Member QRZ Page

    Ding-ding! I sent it to the ARRL and hat did I receive from them? Nothing — nothing at all.

    Again, why change something that was a long-time tradition for no useful purpose and when no one asked for it. I guess it was to romance a bunch of hacks.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2018
  10. K5UJ

    K5UJ Ham Member QRZ Page

    I agree: I saw no reason to change the column name to Hints and Hacks, except that the current J-School grads who run QST are desperately trying to appeal to the 5 or 10 Millennial / computer nerds out there who have ham licenses and might think, "what's a kink?" But if it were up to me, QST would have kept the old Phil Gildersleeve column headings too. And it would have technical content that is now shoved off to QEX, for which you have to pay to read. It's all part of the slide by the ARRL into more dumbing down to appeal to consumer electronics plug and play hams, along with the proposal to let 300K Techs operate SSB on HF. For years, every 6 months or so, ARRL would put out a press release crowing about the over 700,000 hams but now suddenly there is a crisis because there aren't enough warm bodies to give out contest QSOs on HF, and by golly we need those shills to move product and give the plug and play hams something to do.
     
    KK5R likes this.
  11. KK5R

    KK5R Ham Member QRZ Page

    Robert, it's obvious that you're no hack. :):):)
     
  12. N2SUB

    N2SUB Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    In IT, a hack is universally seen as a short-term solution that is not based on sound programming and should never be implemented because it risks breaking other systems, it can potentially corrupt data, it is a security weakness, or it creates more work for developers assigned to maintain the code. A hack is generally undocumented. Hard-coding a value instead of using a table to look it up is a very simple example of a hack. It's like using the doughnut spare when you get a flat...it will get you to the next gas station, but if you are planning on taking a trip, you'll need to get a new tire.

    A "hacker" is a cleaver fellow who exposes the weaknesses in the code, and leverages them to steal personal information, cause systems to malfunction, or even steal money. The hacker recognizes hacks in a system and exploits them for their own personal gain. So, a "hacker" might fit your description because they are using a computer system to do something other than what it was intended to do, but he is doing so by exploiting hacks in the code. From an IT perspective, both "hack" and "hacker" have negative connotations...unless you don't mind a website coded with weak security (a hack) and a guy exploiting the weakness and stealing your credit card number (a hacker).

    Don't believe everything you read on wikipedia. ;)
     
    KK5R likes this.
  13. KV6O

    KV6O Ham Member QRZ Page

    And you hit the core issue. QST is trying to appeal to the new set of hams joining our ranks, and "what's a kink" is exactly what I thought when I became a ham in 2003. Hack seems to have more negative connotations the older you are, today you have several maker websites that use the work "hack" in the context that it is being used in the magazine.

    If it didn't change, I wouldn't have noticed... we say lots of weird things in this hobby, like "73" or "HI HI" (Yes, I understand the history behind these). But try Googling "kink" vs. "hack" and see what you get... :rolleyes:

    Some folks hate any kind of change. The reasoning behind the change was given by the editor last year when they switched. No big deal, and life moves on, and maybe some 16 year old who picks up a copy of QST will see the column as "Hints and Hacks" - in it's positive framework (like hackaday) rather than the negative. I can tell you, a 16 year old's definition of "kinks" is going to not be ham radio (or technology) related. :D

    But really... "Tempest in a Teapot"? I'd be fine if the column stayed with the same name, but I am good with QST trying to engage with a younger audience as well. I only take issue with the argument that there is only one definition for the word.
     
    AG5DB and KA9JLM like this.
  14. KA9JLM

    KA9JLM Ham Member QRZ Page

    Times are changing.

     
  15. KV6O

    KV6O Ham Member QRZ Page

    I spent 25+ years in IT, first as a Novell SysAdmin in the late 80's, then managing an IT department, then as a Systems Engineer, then finally as a SE Manager, with IT consulting sprinkled in representing companies like Computer Associates. Now I run a Motorola radio system that is nothing more than a collection of VMWare machines, routers, firewalls, etc. In a production IT environment, hack is more negative than positive - yes. "Hack job, we got hacked", etc. In a research environment, not so much (think defcon.org) - and in the maker space it's a positive. Ham Radio isn't production IT. If you want the best IT Security, you want something vetted by the IT hacker community, do you not? Someone with true hacked cred isn't an idiot, it's someone folks at the NSA want to hire.

    I'd agree with your spare tire analogy for certain "hacks", but that's a good thing and potentially a life-saver. I knew how to put a process on the sleep-stack of a Novel server that ABEND'ed (Abnormal END - kinda like a BSOD) and this "saved the day" more than a few times by bringing back from the dead a server that had crashed. Now, it needed a reboot, but this could now be scheduled. A "hack", but made me the hero more than once.
     

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