Hello! As I mentioned before, I wanted to write about this topic as part of my CPTS journey. So here it is.
Introduction
In online communities like Reddit and Discord, there’s an ongoing discussion about the use of writeups. Unfortunately, this topic is often surrounded by negativity, doubt, and toxicity. Some people treat using writeups as a sign of weakness or failure.
I’ve been in that mindset before—but I’m here to tell you this:
EVERYONE USES WRITEUPS.
People use cookbooks to cook. Singers perform songs written by others. People use guides, blogs, and tutorials to solve problems. That’s normal.
We all imitate each other to get work done, and there’s absolutely no shame in that. This is how humans learn—through imitation and communication. It’s fundamental to growth and improvement.
Steal Like an Artist
There’s a fantastic book called Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. While it’s geared toward artists, the mindset applies to everyone. Kleon says:
“What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.”
Nobody just woke up and invented Nmap out of thin air. Nobody “discovered” scrambled eggs without prior influence. Every tool, technique, and idea we use is built upon the work of others.
What makes your work unique isn’t that it came from nothing—it’s how you combine, apply, and adapt ideas from various sources to solve the challenges in front of you. That’s what makes your work original.
Think of it like human DNA. You’re 50% your mother and 50% your father, yet you’re a completely unique person. In fact, you’re a blend of many ancestors—parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts—and yet there’s still a part of you that is entirely your own.
It’s the same with learning. That small part of originality is only possible because of the 99% you borrowed. That’s why there’s nothing wrong with reading writeups, following tutorials, or learning from others. That’s how we grow.
Using Writeups: Good vs. Bad
To be clear: When I talk about using writeups, I’m not encouraging plagiarism or leaking answers. That’s not the point.
The point is to use writeups as learning tools—to understand different perspectives and strategies so that you can solve problems on your own later.
Austin Kleon explains this concept perfectly with a visual from his book. The idea is simple:
If you steal from one person, it’s plagiarism. If you steal from many, it’s research. – Wilson Mizner
A Few More Quotes from Steal Like an Artist:
“Nothing is completely original. Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”
“Start copying what you love. Copy, copy, copy. At the end of the copy, you will find yourself.” – Yohji Yamamoto
“First you have to figure out who to copy, then what to copy. Who to copy is easy—it’ll be your favorite author. What to copy is a little trickier. Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes—you want to see like your heroes.”
“If you’re influenced by one person, people will say you’re the next them. If you’re influenced by a hundred people, they’ll say you’re so original.”
“Your job is to collect good ideas. The more ideas you collect, the more you can choose from and be influenced by.”
I highly recommend this book—it costs around $20 and has completely shifted my mindset. If it worked for me, it can work for you too. Capiche?
In Conclusion
There is nothing wrong with using writeups to learn and improve. That’s how learning works.
Even the legends of Hack The Box—ippsec, 0xdf, Snowscan, jkr, xct—all used writeups. It’s how they got better.
Check out ippsec and 0xdf’s content here:
Here’s what xct had to say:
“All of the machines are trying to teach something new, so even the easy ones will at times get you stuck. This is where the real learning starts—either from blog posts, articles, videos, or walkthroughs.
I encourage you to treat looking at walkthroughs as something normal and not as a sign of defeat. The best way of learning is trying for a while, failing, then learning about possible solutions for the next time you encounter such a situation.”
— xct (VulnLab Wiki)
So yes—even xct says writeups are good. You do your best on a box, and if you’re stuck, you learn from writeups. Then, once you’ve solved it, share what you’ve learned—on Discord, Reddit, or your blog.
And when others learn from you, they’ll be “stealing” too.
So go ahead—Steal Like an Artist…
Or better yet, Steal Like a Hacker.
STEAL MORE.
“Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.” – Salvador Dalí
Thank you for reading this blog.