Jacques, please consider for a moment that you can be right, and be an asshole at the same time. I don't consider being an asshole a cornerstone of hacking.
I don't mean literally that you're an asshole. I've always enjoyed your posts, and I get that you're not acting with malice, which is a cornerstone of being an asshole :) But this is one of the core tendencies that contribute to the perception that geeks and hackers are "socially inept".
Consider the following made-up scenario, even if it is contrived. Try to avoid the urge to pick it apart on a literal basis and focus on how this breeches basic social contracts. Then consider that normal people work at Flickr, and that those people are trying to do something good for users.
---
Me: This is my library. It's for storing books. You're welcome to store some of your books here as well.
You: <Starts bringing in boxes of random stuff and placing them on shelves.>
Me: Hey, what are you doing?
You: You didn't say I couldn't store random stuff here, and you haven't implemented any counter measures to prevent me from storing random stuff, so I figured it was ok.
Me: You're kind of an asshole. Did you know that?
---
I'm not saying the hack isn't cool. I'm not saying the hack shouldn't exist. I'm just saying that it's OK to point out that using it might be considered a dick move.
I don't mean literally that you're an asshole. I've always enjoyed your posts, and I get that you're not acting with malice, which is a cornerstone of being an asshole :) But this is one of the core tendencies that contribute to the perception that geeks and hackers are "socially inept".
Consider the following made-up scenario, even if it is contrived. Try to avoid the urge to pick it apart on a literal basis and focus on how this breeches basic social contracts. Then consider that normal people work at Flickr, and that those people are trying to do something good for users.
---
Me: This is my library. It's for storing books. You're welcome to store some of your books here as well.
You: <Starts bringing in boxes of random stuff and placing them on shelves.>
Me: Hey, what are you doing?
You: You didn't say I couldn't store random stuff here, and you haven't implemented any counter measures to prevent me from storing random stuff, so I figured it was ok.
Me: You're kind of an asshole. Did you know that?
---
I'm not saying the hack isn't cool. I'm not saying the hack shouldn't exist. I'm just saying that it's OK to point out that using it might be considered a dick move.