getting started
                             by Phord Prefect

    So you watched something on TV and it was about hackers... you said
"nifty"  ....  You read something on a BBS about free phone calling... you
said "cool"  ....  You started checking out books from the library about
Knight Lightning, or maybe even blue boxing (Esquire, October 1971 )... you
said "wow"  ....  You got this magazine and said, "I have to do this" but
didn't know where to start.

Well, you're not alone  ....

    Your curiosity overwhelms you, but yet you can't seem to find that little
thing to start your exploration. You could try looking around for other
hackers, but if they have a lick of sense they won't make it too obvious. Try
looking harder, they might just come to you.

    So this doesn't work... you just can't seem to find any, or they're
mostly pirates and can't help you. Well, you're just going to have to get the
balls to do something illegal in your life (but I'm not forcing you), so do
something. This magazine is full of examples. Sure there's stealing MCI
calling cards, building blue, red, or whatever boxes, but there are much
deeper things. If you defraud the phone company, you're not a hacker, you just
get free phone calls. You need a passion for the system. You need a
willingness to learn a lot about the system before you do something.

    If you're looking for free phone calls, hurry up and do that and stop
wasting your time. Like I said, you're not a hacker, you just are bothered and
need a little trick to get onto BBS's in some distant place.

    If you have a curiosity for the system, then you're in the right place.
The phone company is something so amazingly huge that one could probably spend
a lifetime exploring it.  This "exploring" is what 2600 is all about. I know
that you computer genius teenagers don't need manuals for things (like
computer programs and VCR's) and are really impatient, so you don't want the
bullshit. You want to know how to get into systems now. Well, relax. You made
a good decision buying this mag, but you have to learn first. You need  to
know this thing backwards and forwards or else you'll screw up and get caught.

    So, in response to the beginners writing in and wanting to "know how to
get free phone calls and other phone tricks", you need to get knowledge. Read
everything you can get your hands on and when you feel the time is right,
after you know exactly how, where, why, and when to do it, do it.