Hi folks.... I'm back..... Saturday is yardwork and other odd jobs day.... Or wifey gets "miffed"... :o
Couple of things I noticed from the responses....
1. Just because a person's status is "AO Newbie" doesn't mean they know nothing... I'm pretty sure that when I came here and had 5 posts "under my belt" I knew a bit more than many here. "AO newbie" means you are new to AO, not that you are new to computer security. Let's say Ed Skoudis turned up and posted tomorrow.... He's going to get an "AO newbie" tag..... Anyone want to say that he knows nothing?
2. I agree with not cutting and pasting unless you are quoting something like RFC's or technical manuals to make a point..... Cutting and pasting other people's work doesn't show that you understand the concepts held in it - just that you can "cut and paste".... I have a cat that can do that.... OK... I lied a little.... ;)
3. Hmm.... I wrote this tutorial in the "submit" box.... OK, it was hardly difficult... But I followed my own principles, read it, re-read it, read every word etc.... and I spent the time to format it in "pleasing and eyecatching ways" <LOL> But UpperCell has a point.... We all have access to the more advanced word processors. Use them, format it nicely, spell and grammar check it and then post it. It makes you look a lot better in the end.
Finally..... Duck..... I pulled the phrase "How to tracert an IP" out of the air..... I had forgotten that you had mentioned it in your tutorial..... However, you seem to have taken this to heart.... So, since it seems so important to you I'll do a review of your tutorial. I'm not doing it to flame you, make you feel bad or so that I can gratify myself by making you feel bad. That's not the intent..... The intent is for others to be able to see your tutorial, me to point out any deficiencies and hopefully learn from the experience.
So lets start.... The original tutorial is here. Going through it one point at at time:-
1.
Quote:
First before I go on, I want to say this tutorial is for the noob
So I shouldn't read it? Was that your point? My reaction was "Does he know what he is talking about, or is he going to give me some good info", 'cos I hardly consider myself an expert. It comes across as pandering... It implies that the tutorial will be of little use to anyone who has past the basics and at worst it implies that you either don't know your stuff or that you can't be bothered to put too much effort in.
2.
Quote:
Please dont flame me if you already know......
What you were really saying was "please don't neg me".... It further implies that you are writing the tutorial in order to gain AP's rather than to actually write something useful. That's a plain waste of your time and mine....
3.
Quote:
So now that we got that out of the way I ask you, have any of you noob's been getting spammed latley? Has anyone been emailing you threats and you want this to stop? Well, then this tutorial is just for you!
Laying out a reason for the tutorial is absolutely necessary..... But do you need it to sound like a penis enargement salesman? There are computer professionals here, make the content of your tutorial professional, it makes you look better.... I'm not saying make it dry and boring, humor is good, but don't come across as a telemarketer...... Note also the spelling mistake... It was a typo.... You do alright in that category, along with your grammar.... :D
4.
Quote:
Now look for the "From:" or the "Received from:" line. There should be an IP address.
That only really works if the sending machine has it's own mailserver built in. Otherwise, the sending machine will send to it's outbound mail server, that will send to the receiving mail server that will have the mail picked up by the recipient's client. So the way you describe it is not entirely correct.... We won't even go into the more complex situations.... You oversimplified a situation that would lead some to conclude that the email came from somewhere other than it did. If you had properly detailed the mail headers, with examples, then the tutorial would have been more complete.
5. If you pull the ISP from the "From:" line then you are often on utterly the wrong track. Go into outlook express and take a look.... You can spoof the from field so easily... but the "reply to" address can still direct the mail to the proper account.... You were too quick to leave out important detail and you didn't warn the reader that it could be more complex. Read the headers from the bottom up.... That's where the ability to determine where the email actually came from is shown. Not all headers are a simple one step headers... some contain several steps.... You didn't mention it.....
6.
Quote:
Hope this helps and sorry for the sloppy grammer
So you think your grammar sucks..... So why not spend the time to check it..... Actually, your grammar is better than a lot of people's...... Don't take that as a reason to ignore it..... If you want to write a tutorial and be sen in a knowledgeable light your grammar should be good....
To conclude... Your tutorial was deficient in several factual ways. It was preceded by statements that made it look like something that was less than useful and you came across as pandering to avoid neg AP's and hopefully gain pos AP's....
If you want to write a tutorial make it professional looking, give _all_ the details, where possible give actual examples and explain them line by line....
Do a good job.... People will respect you more for it.