You know how every once in a while you get those emails from people but it's just a link? And there's no subject heading? I get them all the time. I guess I sent one out a few days ago. I was the victim of a hacking. I have to admit I always assumed, when I got those links from people, that they were caused by that person looking at porn. This was very judgemental of me, but secretly fun. I would get these "porn hacked" links from all kinds of people. People you would never suspect! But I want to state unequivocally that I do not look at porn, so that has really changed the way I look at hack jobs.
I didn't know that I had been hacked until 2500 people texted me and told me. Apparently they got the link, panicked, and let me know. I felt guilty about that. When I get those link-type emails from other people I basically deem the person a porn addict and then delete the mail. I never thought of letting them know that they had been hacked. It's actually a thoughtful thing to do, even though there's nothing you can do about it once the link goes out. You just have to pray that no one opens it, even though some people (my sister Lucy) did open it. Hailey Smith wrote and said:
"The sad thing is that people probably get excited to get an email from you and click the link."
In the midst of my bewilderment, that was a really nice thing to say. Hailey made me feel like a someone people like hearing from, and not just a dodgy old smutterist. How nice that people (Lucy again) would be so excited to hear from me that they would jeopardize their computer. I feel like I should send out a link that people could safely enjoy. How about this one? Click here.
And then, I started hearing from lots of people. It was fantastic! A lot of people just said "looks like you've been hacked" without any punctuation or anything, but they took the time to do it. And that meant a lot to me. It would be like getting a hundred emails on Father's Day just saying "you are a father." It's cursory, yes, but someone took the time. So then I took the time to email my whole contact list, letting them know about the hacking and apologizing. And guess what? I started to hear back!
I heard from my English friend Richard, who just had twin girls. I had no idea about those twins! Thanks, Hacker!
Cally, an associate from BYU whom I haven't seen in over two years, wrote and said "you are making a great impact through your UVU service." That was nice to hear. Well done, Hacker! I feel better about myself.
My old PhD cohort pal Betsy wrote and said that it was great to be in touch again. It only took a hacking!
My friend Ed wrote and made a joke about me being a "Korean pornographer." Oh, Ed! Thanks for the laugh! And thank YOU, Hacker!
My friend Brett wrote and would you guess? We have a movie date planned! Just what I need. Hacker, take me away!
So in the end, this turned out great. I really hope I get hacked more often. Not a lot, because I have to keep changing my password and boy, that gets old. But just enough so that life can reacquaint me with some of my favorite people who come replete with awesome compliments and a couple of good jokes.
