Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles; site ea.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ea!mwm From: mwm@ea.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: May 1984 *Analog* < Nuclear flames - (nf) Message-ID: <11700007@ea.UUCP> Date: Sun, 1-Apr-84 07:12:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ea.11700007 Posted: Sun Apr 1 07:12:00 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 18-May-84 01:47:09 EDT References: <1212@ucf-cs.UUCP> Lines: 55 Nf-ID: #R:ucf-cs:-121200:ea:11700007:000:2794 Nf-From: ea!mwm Apr 1 15:12:00 1984 #R:ucf-cs:-121200:ea:11700007:000:2794 ea!mwm Apr 1 15:12:00 1984 ***** MINOR "VALENTINA" SPOILER ***** [Insert usual disclaimer about working from memory.] I read "Valentina," and no, I'm not greatly disgusted/angered. First, the lawyer - he was, indeed, a pretty slimy character. Reminds me more of a court reporter than a lawyer :-). The thing that bothered you about him was that he liked young girls, and our two hackers were the only ones who noticed. Unless I'm badly mistaken, this was a new twist to his live (we saw the start of it, remember), and he happened to leave clues were our greasy-haired hacker would find them. Now, about the two hackers. You are correct, all hackers aren't that like that. If they had been blacks/women/, the story would have resulted in a long, loud, righteous outcry. It would also have been as silly as yours was. The current trend to display everybody in glowing colors stinks. Doing so is spreading disinformation as badly as propagating stereotypes. Worse yet, it handicaps an author. Now, in this specific case, Celeste needed to be ugly (plot line, ya'know). I don't know about the flaw that would have kept her out of grad school. The two flaws in her character I found wouldn't necessarily have been sufficient, especially if she is (as we are told) the "best in the world" when it comes to hacking. Gunboat is a slightly different case. I can believe a hacker working for a law firm - especially one with the traits he displayed. I hope he'd be thrown out of anything that calls itself a school in short order; and not because of his lack of hygiene, but because he's nearly as slimy a character as the lawyer. Or aren't people outside of the Ivory Tower Universities allowed to have hacker-level interest in computers, and (maybe even) skills to match? Given that he's not in a school, he could wind up hacking for almost anybody. Making gunboat the greasy-haired character he was wasn't needed, but I think it was appropriate. It makes him that much easier to hate. Besides which, the majority of the hackers I've run into lean more towards gunboat than towards the three-piece suit flavored hackers you (almost) never see. Given that people like to gunboat actually exist (I've met them; I'm not to far away myself. Long hair, slovenly dress, and addiction to junk food. I do try and keep the dirt to a minimum, though.), I think that Delaney and Stiegler were justified in their characterization. Personally, I was *much* more upset by the "backdoors" in "WarGames." I don't do such things, and don't know of anybody who ever let a product out the door that had backdoors (in house, yes. But never to the public.) "Valentina" gives the world a possibly biased view of hackers. "WarGames" stooped to slander. "Tim! Dave! Cheese! Tim! Dave! Cheese!"