I wrote a virus. I called it the Elvis virus and it forced your computer to go to a DOS screen and display "ELVIS IS DEAD" over and over again while ignoring all keyboard commands. I never distributed the virus, but I did test it out on a non-networked computer. It worked beautifully. I had to wipe the hard drive as I had programmed it to erase all previous system backups. I then deleted the virus, so I could eliminate any chance of accidental distribution. So why did I go to all the trouble to create a virus, test it, but not distribute it? I simply wanted to see if I could. That was 10 years ago.

I was never into the hacker culture, but yes, ! <4|\| |234|> 1337 (I can read leet , well most dialects of it). I do somewhat understand the lure of hacking and virus making. The testing to see just what you can do, pitting your skills against a formidable opponent like a government website. I simply did not like the possible consequences, not only for me but for other unrelated people. If your virus gets to a doctor's computer, it could potentially wipe out important information about a patient. If it gets onto a government computer like the ones that the Social Security Adminstration uses, you could disrupt the services that many elderly and disabled people desperately need. Hacking a website for profit is a jackass thing to do. Stealing people's credit cards off a server is just as bad as breaking into their homes. Plus there is the whole "you could go to jail" part.

I believe there are also different levels of trolling. I personally think it is okay to engage in harmless "just for lulz" trolling. Things that might make people shake their heads, but not anything that is truly hurtful or mean. I also think the target of the trolling makes a huge difference. If you are on Omegle and you get some one who starts the conversation with, "asl?" it is completely appropriate to respond, "No, but I speak Porteguese" as if he was asking if you can use American Sign Language.