Dealing with your conscience

You just have to give to the poor form time to time

I think you should see blackhat as cutting edge or cleverness, e.g. playing game with search engine to dominate 1st position, etc. etc.

I don't mind doing blackhat as long as it doesn't cheat other people money.

also: anyone that knowingly installs a virus for any reason should be shot.

the thing about morals is, they're completely arbitrary.
everyone's got their own unique set of morals, so if you ask for advice on a moral issue, you're just going to get 100 different answers, none of which will be compatible with your own set of morals, so you won't end up taking anyone's advice.
really your only choice is to go with your original suggestion, of just quitting, because that's what you want to do.
or you can choose to compromise your own morals based on some random forum posts you read.
or whatever, i don't really care

jclz123 said:

Hey guys, I've been in blackhat for quite a while. I've done a whole number of things and it's starting to get to me. How do you guys put up with yourselves? I'm thinkin bout finally calling it quits. Would like a few perspectives on this.

Click to expand...

Black Hat is not eating babies and sacrificing virgins you know. If your conscience is getting to you so much, give all your possessions and money to charity...
namely ME! :7:

You're gay if you have conscience uver black hat techniques. start coming out the closet!

spollacs said:

You're gay if you have conscience uver black hat techniques. start coming out the closet!

Click to expand...

isn't it past your bedtime?

charmingkiddo said:

isn't it past your bedtime?

Click to expand...

Nope. it's 4 pm here. Bleh

With regards to what I am doing.. If you any of you have seen Boiler Room. i'm like the guy knowingly selling 'make money' shit to poor people at obscene prices (xx,xxx). Totally legal, but damn it's starting to feel wrong.

jclz123 said:

With regards to what I am doing.. If you any of you have seen Boiler Room. i'm like the guy knowingly selling 'make money' shit to poor people at obscene prices (xx,xxx). Totally legal, but damn it's starting to feel wrong.

Click to expand...

How do you get poor people to fork over ($xx,xxx)?. Do poor people actually have $xx,xxx?

behind every great fortune, there's a great crime

Alright, so that's not the greatest thing to be doing. However, you know the average poor person isn't the smartest duck in the pond. This might be doubly true if the buy something online telling them they can make money.

Solutions are available that make stopping not necessary. The best thing I can offer is give them some simple advice that works. If your guide costs ten bucks, give them access to some article writing sites that will make them twenty. The average guide is terrible so if you spoon-feed them something, they can earn the money back and actually gain from your tips. This may also increase your income because you give real tips.

Now I presume you're currently selling useless or overpriced stuff. They may be poor, but there is someone poorer. Donate a percentage of the money to them. Also, how do you know they're poor?

Now if you want rationalizations that require you to change none of your behavior, I can give it a go. I think there might actually be some real justifications given that if you don't do it, someone else will. Now that's not an excuse for everything, but if the argument is setup in a certain way given this specific kind of thing, it might work.

You can always stop, too. There isn't anything wrong with that. Well, there might be, actually, but that would be complicated as well. I have to go do something otherwise I'd be more useful.

I hate the way spam is illegal. It is ok, though, for people to come up onto your property and dump junk (fliers) into your house, well in my country anyway.

It really infuriates me....

The most beautiful phrase I ever heard, from the lips of a drunk 18 y/o girl - I have no morals. Sigh.

jclz123 said:

I'm thinkin bout finally calling it quits. Would like a few perspectives on this.

Click to expand...

Then by all means, quit.

Most everyone has a moral line they won't cross. Personally, I would never involve myself in something like banking off human tragedies, like floods, earthquakes, etc. But I don't see anything wrong in gaming the mega-corporations who are in fact, more black hat than any of us could ever imagine being.

Cheers! - "Wiz"

WizGizmo said:

But I don't see anything wrong in gaming the mega-corporations who are in fact, more black hat than any of us could ever imagine being.

Cheers! - "Wiz"

Click to expand...

Hear hear!!!

izm said:

Nah seriously though, what exactly do you mean? we aren't robbing people, we're just exploiting systems & violate companies' TOS (companies that make billions and do darker shit than we do, and don't give a ****). So no, it can't possibly affect my conscience.

Click to expand...

I totally agree. These giant companies like youtube google and facebook don't give a damn about you so you should not give a damn about them either. They make BILLIONS of dollars a year so me "stealing" 0.0000000000000001%
of their profits is nothing...

And yes, they do much more "evil" things than we do. Nothing in this world is what you think it is. Keep that in mind.

I don't have a problem with a spam, it doesn't hurt anybody. But using getaways in templates or somewhere else and stealing someone's traffic, that potentially could bring the money - thats against my moral principles. And it doesn't matter how much I need the money, I would rather spend extra hours doing something else that can bring income. Those, who sell "How to cure cancer" books don't get it until someone close gets sick.
You can say "they do much more "evil" things than we do"". That's how it begins...

I will not involve myself in the following

1. Child Porn
2. Trying to make money off tragic events like wiz said

Other then that, everything else is pretty much fair game, and wiz is right...the BIG corps, you have no idea what those sleez balls.