Types of Hackers
There are many types of hackers and I will try explain the vast majority of them here beginning with the good and branching into the undesirables...
Newbies/Neophythes
Newbies are only well new to hacking, they are striving to learn and it is at this stage they decide what path they will take. A newbie could become anything if not taught early the code of the hacker. The usually go through a process of learning from their mistakes.
Neophythes are newbies who are beginning to show some knowledge and are contributing to the hacker society. Many hackers remain at this stage and few move on the 'uberhacker' status.
Lamers
Lamers are the people that just wont learn, they are not interested in real hacking instead looking for easy ways to impress their freinds etc. Everything they do is accomplished without any innovative ideas, just basic copying of old exploits, tools etc.
Script Kiddies
*Ennis cringes* Yes we all them, the bottom of the hacker culture is fulll of wannabes, these malicious kids are lamers with enough knowledge to lets say, deface a site or execute DoS attacks, creat simple virii etc. They are the people that give hackers a bad name.
Black Hats
You may have heard this term tossed around this forum a couple of times, Black Hats are crackers out to gain something from their computer knowledge. Basically they are the crimanals you hear about from the media.
White Hats
You guessed it, the good guys. The find holes in systems and may patch them up or warn the sites administrator. These people are the moral conscience of the hacking world.
Grey Hats
Kinda myth-like, apparently the old crackers using their skills have root on many sites but do not deface the site or cause damage. They may install backdoors and sites. They do not talk to anyone or release their exploits to other hackers.