Learning how to hack?
 

What is the best way to learn how to hack? I know I have to learn PHP, but the board uses some serious stuff. Is there a good site to go to to learn this stuff easily? Does anyone out there have something like a guide or anything? Any help at all?

Ironic coming from someone with no hacks under their belt BUT, I found the best way to actually have something you want to do with/to your forums.
I have modified mine lightly with little to no php knowledge just messing around with different things and seeing what they do, then adding bits of logical code.
Besides it far more rewarding to discover something yourself than just read it, maybe not as productive but more rewarding.
Have fun.

You just need to think of something that you need done to your forums that no one else has produced.
In a logical manor just think about what has to be done, don't think how is can be done just how.

Getting the data, the data then needs to be changed, then i need to show it on the page. Break down each stage then or look at some other peoples hack to see how they get the data etc.

The best way to learn how to hack is to learn php first because then the code doesn't look like gibberish when you try to read it.

I learned PHP by buying Core PHP by Leon Atkison.

I think creating a good hack is
60% knowing vbulletin scripts
30% knowing PHP
10% knowing SQL, Security, HTML, Java etc.

Even if you are a PHP wiz, you need to work hard and spend sometime on vbulletin system. It's a complicated script.

As for learning PHP, the best source is PHP Manuel which you can download from www.PHP.net. Especially if you are familiar with any programming language manuel is everything you need to learn PHP. The second best source is to find a nice and active PHP board to ask questions, get answers when you stuck..

For simple hacks, I'd agree, but if you wanna do anything 'serious' I'd swap the percentage for PHP and vB script-knowledge. If you can't tell the difference between a switch-statement and a for-loop, it doesn't matter if you know the scripts by heart, byte by byte.