[nzlug] New term: tinkerer

[Nevyn]

On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 7:58 PM, yuri <yuridg at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2008/7/14 Craig Box wrote:
>> While we're on the topic, it's time to drop the use of the word 'hacker'.
>> The media have co-opted the term and given it a new meaning in the minds of
>> the world. Find a new word to mean tinkerer.  Hell, use tinkerer.  Discuss.
>
> I like that. Tinkerer. Has a nice ring to it.
> I am not a hacker (in the new sense of the word). I am a tinkerer.
>
> Tinkerer sounds benign. Harmless.
> It connotes someone who likes to tinker. Likes to open up his/her toys
> to see how they work. Likes to tweak, adjust, try things out.
>
> I hope it catches on. Time to abandon the term "hacker" just like
> happy people have abandoned the term "gay".
>
> Yuri

There's still a certain romanticism to the word "hacker". Much like
the word "Guru". They're both something to aspire to.

Being a tinkerer sort of implies a hacker to a lesser scale (with the
old definition of hacker that is). I tinker, sure, but I'll also do
the sort of thing that RMS did when he wrote the notification program
for a printer - I'll hack something together to solve a problem.