I'm old enough that to me, "hack" doesn't imply anything nefarious. But I'd hope that people who answer this question with something unethical would be excluded from the program.
I don't mean hack as in "hack a system and leak the passwords". But "hack" here implies that you somehow skirted around the rules or did something that you're not supposed to do. You've exploited something to your own advantage. Often times (not always!), many people would consider this unethical behavior.
For example, there's this widely told story about how Airbnb in the beginning exploited Craig's List to list their properties. This is not illegal, it's not that they hacked into Craig's List, but it's for sure not ok. It's ok to break the rules as long you are not caught. Imagine if everybody would start doing that. Therefore, I'm also not surprised that they don't give two shits about city regulations and so on.
> I don't mean hack as in "hack a system and leak the passwords". But "hack" here implies that you somehow skirted around the rules or did something that you're not supposed to do
Right, that's what "hack" doesn't imply to me. I mean, this is "Hacker News", but it is not about nefarious activities. That said, I do understand that's what it implies to the younger generations.
> It's ok to break the rules as long you are not caught.
This is an attitude that seems to be common in SV, and I'm disappointed if YC doesn't reject applicants who demonstrate it.
