[Jach]

It made me sad once until I thought about it. It doesn't matter that "hacker" has been hijacked so long as there are still hackers around. If you keep your own definition consistent, and you don't stray too far from "the classical versions"[1], you see who are the hackers you might want to care about and who aren't. So when the media makes it synonymous with "cracker", whatever, you know better. When a rockstar ninja who only knows one language for one general task calls themselves a "hacker", you know better. When a hacker you already know about mentions some other people or their work, you might want to go check them out to see what you're missing and if they're another hacker. If you want to claim the term's former social signaling status, well, better get back to making neat hacks and sharing them with people whose respect and admiration you want.

[1] The main three authors of essays that I typically think of as classical sources on the term "hacker" are esr: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

rms: http://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html

and, of course, pg: http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html