Going down the line, correcting mistakes:
“warez” is full proggies (programs) available for download via websites or FTP. With the crackdown on pir8s (software pirates) a few years ago, and a proliferation of ‘Top Sitez’, warez are harder to find now, having mostly moved BACK to IRC and FTP. ‘Top Sitez’ are lists of the ‘best’ warez sites. The idea is to make entry into your website incredibly confusing, mostly consisting of links to voting sites that rate your site as being ‘good’ without the voter knowing what they’ve done. This sort of tactic gets you high on the top lists, and therefore, more click throughs. More clickthroughs lead to more revenue from ads. More revenue is obvious, more money for the site director. The proliferation of Top Sitez lists (Top 10, Top 100, Top 50, Top 25, Top 69, Top 1000, etc.) has basically killed any web-based warez scene. Popups are another method of generating revenue, also via clickthrough. Hit CTRL-W to kill them, then kill the main window (the originator of the popups), or, if you do alot of warez surfing, disable java.
The correct pronunciation is warez as in wears, pronouncing it war-ez (juarez) will get you severely laughed at. A modern dictionary will probably not list it, but any self respecting internet slang guide most certainly will. The correct spelling/pronunciation for porn, in 733+ speak, is pr0n.
Cracked software used to be a hex editor with a text file instructing the correct additions/changes, but now is mostly .exe files that automatically apply the changes for you.
Pop ups are about 50/50 porn and top sites.
You have almost zero risk of getting a virus from a warez site. A warez site relies on 1) ad revenue 2) reputation 3) repeat visitors 4) clickthrough and 5) cred. KNOWINGLY distributing a virus (virii in leet speak) will destroy all 5 of these. Most sites rigorously check for viruses in their own files, and do not knowingly link to risky sites. In addition, warez are ripped and uploaded by persons usually from age 14-25 who have zero vested interest in giving you a virus (unless it’s a keystroke logger). The majority of viruses are harmless, regardless, just like in real life. A person’s .sig file is usually found in a decompressed zip or arj file, and a known ‘hax0r’ (hacker, as they call themselves, but we’ll not get into that) would NEVER distribute a virus. Much or most of cracking is building a name for yourself, all of which would be destroyed by a single virus tagged to your product.
My… friend… Tom… was heavy into warez until about this time last year, and in his 12 years of computers and 6 years of internet/warez sceneing, has had only 2 virii, and neither traced to a warez download or program.
I would not be surprised if the phrase warez and other ‘leet’ speak was discarded as the average age of ‘hackers’ increases. Many people into the scene now have been into it for many, many years and have matured beyond 14-year-old-posuer speak.
Perhaps at some time leet speak served a purpose, now it is mostly, as it was put, ‘in group shibboleth’, although the ‘in group’ is not actually the ‘in group’, but posuers who THINK they are ‘in’ when in fact, they are merely a pasty, pudgy 14 year old with too much time. The ‘in group’ is much harder to find or contact. Todays’ ‘in group’ probably doesn’t even know who Captain Crunch, or The Master, or one of a dozen others are.
warez = wares (usually games)
appz = applications (usually Office, Windows, music editing stuff, non-games)
hackz = hacks
crackz = cracks
d/lz = downloadable files (usually meaning files being served directly from the site)
ftpz = ftp links and passwords
proggies = programs, usually warez or hackz programs.
A large part of warez is done via Scour, Sideload, Streamload, and other various ‘hosting’ or ‘swapping’ sites, servers, or programs that are offshore.
One of the biggest distributors on AOL used to be a group named “ShiZZa” who made the ShiZZa room gen, which would create, through a mathematical function, a different room every day, each copy producing the same room. This was done to elude the AOL 'cats. Since the rooms were generated randomly, and in conjunction, anyone ‘in the know’ with the latest version of the room gen could get in the room and be safe. Whenever AOL was known to have a copy of the gen, a new version was distributed (usually gotten by emailing a ShiZZa associate) and the new rooms were populated. I don’t know if it’s still in use, probably not.
–Tim
