The State Of AntiOnline 8/19/2002

Greetings All:

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the current state of AntiOnline. Particularly, I am interested in the answers to the following questions:

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?
2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?
3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?
4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?
5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?
6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?
7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?
8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?
9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?
10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?
11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

I'm looking for good, honest, group discussion about these points. It is the members that shape this community, so here's your chance to be heard.

1. Perhaps a valued members forum. This would not just be limited to forum regulars but also count with the IRC chatters amongst us who sometimes post occasionly (When in the mood !)
2. The members spotlight. By changing it more often say every couple of weeks or so. Also Id like to see a properly laid out newsletter archive.
3. Some negative bits but overall still good.
4. Seems OK needs a dtricter banning regime though (example vicTT getting like 5 accounts every time once was banned hed use another.
5. I read posts when im at a short end. Im not a always here regular but i always return.
6. every now and then. Less college work less home stress all may increase my post count :P
7. Id loose it. Too many ppl where being banned because of one post or the thread dying cause of one stupid post.
8. Speed seems good when i visit although every now and then it slows down to a crawl.
9. Bandwith, Marketing campaign, not much realkly (Id spend it on myself or the AO offices if i worked there !)
10. I think overall you work too much on new features and sometimes hang back on moderatoing etc. But we all know you cant do everything !

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

i speak for everyone when i say more pr0n their seems to be a lack of it hehe but seriously atm all i can see this site is a pretty front page for some forums... no downloads and the txt files are less than uptodate

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

exluding antipoints the forums are fine i mean apart from the odd bug that pops up its fine mabey more rewards for higher antipoints earners/posters something to keep the more and more of the senior members slowing down their posting and the newer ones something to aim for other than the addicts forum and a spanky title


4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

its pretty good because no one posts nething thats remotly flamable cause of ph33r of the a word then when someone gets flamed it hurts everyones feelings and all parties involved get the a word keeps the flaming down also keeps the controversial posts down and we all like cotraversy

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

i read it a few times a day and usually the post title and see the utter crap im used to and leave ie the humor forum seems to have way to many posts in it the next question is where it lies the second part of that question is self explanatory

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

i post about once or twice a week i have things to say but i usually get told of for my grammer/spelling or get neged to death cause its contraversion it seems to me that we live in a comuniest society where free thought is not welcomed other than in the cosmos forum thanks negative!


7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

i hate it i think it should be gone it creates jealousy restricts thought etc how many times have people wanted to post but stoped because of fear of antipoints? now with this new auto banning/balance feature its even worse how many people have got negs sayin just balancing? etc etc people dont want to post cause they could be banned i think that has lost you a lot of members jp
the suicidal thread function need re doing cause to many good post die cause of 1 stupid person posting ****


8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

good its down a bit for no forseable reason but other than that its fine speed wise it can get a bit slow but even on dial up its bearable


9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

help get the wargames up and running we have all waited all gloated about the invites but nuthing happened it would bring in lots of users if we had active war games king of the hill etc fun fun and more fun = more more and more users


10. What is your current opinion in the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

here comes the fun part you can be a bit of a dick sometimes on irc not approchable half the time abusive in a funny way its ok little bit favourtism twords "gay" people take the whole gamemaster instance hehe and you dont take an active role in the comunity you sit up their and talk only to the "elite" members people like it when the high and mighty leader talks in their forums irc you occasilnaly talk but to me usually abusive ie telling me that i was a mistake etc etc just be nice to see your opinions in the forums and not the usual 1 liners we see with the standerd yours in cyberspace bout it im sure ill think of more
those views are held by me if you dont like it deal with it dont antipoint me pm me like a man with a name gawd damn it

11. irc the split was a bad idea the stats are a bad idea and the ops that are only active in us timezones hehe its annoying sitting their watching people flood argue over multicell organisms or ask how to hack hotmale and not have neone to do nething about it

stats on the site are also a bad idea creats to much compatition etc just general bullshit

my ideas
my views

rioter


p.s i missed 3 the mood well seems to me that people are annoyed by the lack of intelegent conversasion to many newb question antiopoint gripes etc etc correct me if im wrong but alot of the senior members are leaving annoyed slowing their posts cause of the lack of info lack of quailty post alot of people seem to be taking quantity over quailty as their posting methods the "good post" "lol" post are popular and its annoying seeing people trying to get stats by doing that
i could go on all day
so i should stop

1. I'd like to see some ratios on the view/like/dislike of a fourm. Just seeing "somewhat positive" doesn't cut it, for me. It seems that there are some negative discussions that end up showing as "somewhat positive" or what not... Something like "15% readers dislike, 5% like, and the rest don't mind"... It would need to know how many views the thread had, and how many people assigned points, and which way. Then, you can have some custom message like "divided", or "quite positive", or anything else.

2. Maybe my answer to #1 can be used here. Thinking of that... <copy> I'd like to see some ratios on the view/like/dislike of a fourm. Just seeing "somewhat positive" doesn't cut it, for me. It seems that there are some negative discussions that end up showing as "somewhat positive" or what not... Something like "15% readers dislike, 5% like, and the rest don't mind"... It would need to know how many views the thread had, and how many people assigned points, and which way. Then, you can have some custom message like "divided", or "quite positive", or anything else. </copy>

3. The mood seemed like a rainy day. People were popping up with stuff like humor, but most people don't seem to be taking it all too well... I haven't really read anything in a while, so it may have changed. It seems that the industry is moving around again, so activity is on the rise again. Some opinions are being asked for, but most of the stuff seems to be things to know, and there really isn't too much to discuss upon it... At least that's how it seemed to me when I visited and read stuff last time...

4. It could be improved with something like my suggestion for #1 and #2. At least we wouldn't view it, because we'd know what others thought of it...

5. I don't read them very often any more. I just look at the titles, and the "somewhat ..." stuff on it.

6. I don't post very often any more. I have nothing to add, and most of the stuff seems to be "interesting stuff to read", but not really too much room to comment...

7. I am content with it. It works fine enough for me, and works fast. About 10 seconds after some very negative post is posted, it seems to be gone. Either that, or my internet connection isn't fast enough to update that quickly... :D

8. AntiOnline loads in the same amount of time for me as any normal website, at least on my computer. For my cell-phone, that is a different story. There is too much data to view on a small screen. Maybe an option can be set to minimize the data sent to the visitor...

9. I don't know how to spend the money, so don't ask me...

10. You're doing fine. Improvements on the site started back up again, and things seemed to take a positive leap after your new features. Maybe start up the weekly mail bag up again (I don't remember seeing it in a while).

11. #1 and #2 are the same. I don't know why I did that, but I didn't want to redo #1... Maybe I should read through all of the questions first... At least this isn't that trick test where the last one says to not do anything...

-Tim_axe

answer i would like to see
1.A news forum that wont appear on the main page *general chit chat is like a mirror for the register and slashdot*
2.all the current features are good i cant think of any improvements
3.the mood in the forums are good *exept the drive by .A.P*
4.flames and spam are really minimal unless some 1 is asking how to hack hotmail use sub 7 etc or trying to advertise websites *which is not very often*
5.i read mostly all posts in the forums everyday
6 i only post if i feel as if i can help or i would like to perticipate in a discussion in the forums
7. the only thing with the A.P system is the balance is key messege ppl feel as if they have to get balanced and give negs for invalid reasons
8.i think the speed and availbilty is fine
9.if i had $10.000 *need to get back to u on this 1 im drawing a blank*
10.i think u run the site the ok *but would u really run it diffrently on ppl`s comments*

well hope i have been of some help

I do have a suggestion JP....why not edit the metatags and keywords and exclude any reference about "hacking" and such.This does cause a bit of concern to any Network Admin when he checks his web access logs(at least it did mine) Also it would make the site (and the chatroom for that matter) less likely to come up on some script kiddies google search.

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Originally posted here by JP
The purpose of this thread is to discuss the current state of AntiOnline. Particularly, I am interested in the answers to the following questions:

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1. AntiOnline Security Seminars (online) / Weekly radio show covering topics of security better than (Hackermind.net & 2600.com's off the hook)

2. The forum topics, I would suggest spreading them out such as "Hackers.com's BBS Forum"

3. I believe it has been improving very slowly.

4. see #3

5. Daily, more educational material that I may need on a daily basis.

6. 4 - 5 times a week, topics more related to my experience and background.

7. Wouldn't touch w/ a ten foot poll.

8. Off-Peak times are great, but alot of hangs during peak times.

9. Web Seminars, Security Videos, AntiOnline Magazine,

10. see #7

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?
See past site suggestions i have made that were never answered

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?
See past site suggestions i have made that were never answered

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?
The mood is becomeing very crappy recently and the only threads around are ones bitching about the threads and mood around ;)

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?
Flames are at a all time low recently, spam seems to be nothing we cant handle

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?
I read daily or bi daily, I would like to see more info on the war games and think that might add a bit of excitement to the forums

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?
Read above

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?
Read my last few site suggestions

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?
Its at a all time high and i see no room for improvement

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?
id give everyone on the top 10 antipoint list 1 $ via paypal and send the rest to NetSyN ;)

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?
My true opinion is you are human and like all humans u make mistakes

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......
Antionline is the only community id like to call home.


-NetSyN

i also suggest sumthing OTHER then war games :P

maybe a little multiplayer game we can all share in that is away from the whole "war" "evil" "hacker" spot light


but i also agree WE NEED TO CHANGE THE SPOT LIGHT!!!

we all love mittens, but seeing here everyday in the same spot losses the spotlight of it! :P

i feel like a suggestion whore...

but how about a BEAT DOWN button for a thread or a SICK OF SEEING

im honestly sick of seeing Rouges suicide post and wish there was a way if enough votes are casted the thread will no longer show up on the front page... i mean enough is enough ;)

oh crap another suggestion!!!!

lmfao gettin sick of me yet?

how about making it so CLOSED threads cant be bumped up?

or ROLL CALL threads.. i mean theres no reason to bump them...
crap how bout just deleted ROLL CALL all together..

u only see people getting negged for them anyway!

i say down with roll call!!!!

1> I would like to see a forum that didn't have antipoints or increace your post count. Make it a "private" forum with a moderator. If someone gets out of line, the moderator can ban that person from that particular forum, but not the rest of the site. It could be a good way to just blow off steam or post bs, without having to worry about get negative points.
2> At the moment, none.
3> The current mood is that people have to stop whining. People complain before the take the time to see how something is going to work, and they need to try it out before they bitch about it. I don't know how you improve on that mood.
4> Thats doing good, or at least as good as can be expected for a site like this.
5> Everyday, all day. Do I really have to read more? Just not on weekends.
6> Humm, what am I at now...1894 posts. What do I have to do to please you ;) Never mind...
7> I like the current antipoint system, I just think people need to learn how to use it. The only thing I would possible like to see is a way to vary how much you give a person. Either a percentage (ie. Assign 64% of maximum antipoints), or atleast another option saying return to middle... The percentage would be good, because there are a lot of times I don't think a post is worth 45 to 55 antipoints, but I don't have a way to control how many I give out. The reurn to middle would be good when you see posts that have obviously been givin points for a BS reason.
8> Most of the time it is good, but on a 56K connection, it can lag. And when the site does go down (like you decide to move the dmark or something) there is no warning.
9> ummmm, good question. Since I don't know the current setup, I can't say much. Maybe set up a dedicated machine for members email (as an antipoint bonu) or something?
10> Not to bad. I would like to see your participation a little more though. In IRC, you might say 3 lines, then lurk again. Mostly, on here though, when a site suggestion or a bug shows up, even if you don't have the time to fix it, just a quick post saying, you are considering it, or looking into it would be nice, so we might not get 5 threads all on the same thing.
11> Antipoint benefits and Lunchboxes ;) I remember you asking about what possible benefits could you make. You have been implementing some cool stuff, but you don't put any limits on it, which might make it worth while. Other posibilites...email...(ie, 500 points gets you a redirection, 1000 points gets you webmail, 1500 points gets you pop3 mail, etc.) OR change your space limit by points (500 points = 5 meg, 1000 = 10 meg, or something) Also, maybe webspace or shell accounts would be cool also (it would give you someplace to spend your 10 grand ;P ) and change access rights/amount of space bassed on points...

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

Portal project...all the way....

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

I've watched this site evolve over time and it just keeps getting better. I don't think I would change anything.

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

The mood in the forums is all about whining nowadays. People seem unhappy with the AP system and the idea of their 'freedom of speech' being breeched and so forth. Older members don't post as often due to people balancing their antipoints and the general negativity that seems to be lurking over everyone's heads. People need to realize that this is a community, maybe through an explained post by you, that they need to stop complaining and move towards making the community better through their actions. Such as moderators taking more of an initiative towards posters and more actively getting involved in threads and keeping the mood where it should be, and people need to look out for one another as far as unfair balancing goes, bring people back to center on their posts.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

I think the flaming is at a low right now...and spam, well we need SOMETHING to balance our points on...

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

I read them all of the time, whenever I get a chance. I try try and read everything, not just topic based information.

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

Average of one per day now, unless I have a lot of time and sit down to really go through the forums. I post based on topic, the more interesting the topic makes me want to post, or if I have an opinion on something, or answering a question.

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

Just what I said before, people need to look out for eachother and take an active role in the community. I try to look out for as many people as I can, and that leaves me unbalanced most of the time, so I'm in favor of ideas that you can decide on how many points to give out, because sometimes I just want to even a person out, not put them completely into the positive, because that's just working towards someone I have to give a red to, and I really hate that, although in some cases it's necessary. Hmmm, maybe you could make that Mr. Miyagi message a little smaller? Less obtrusive on the main page? *LOL*

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

On 56k, the only thing that loads slow is if I click to the full options reply, other than that it's very fast for me. AO's been down a few times since I've been here, but it's always right back up again.

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

Put it in savings, JP.

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

I'd really like to see you become more active in the forums and on IRC. You usually only post short replies and it would be cool for you to take a more active approach yourself. I realize you're probably really busy, but 'you're the man' here.

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

You're really doing a great job...I really can't complain about anything, this site keeps getting better and better the longer I'm here.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by JP
Greetings All:

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the current state of AntiOnline. Particularly, I am interested in the answers to the following questions:

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

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The forum pages should tell the thread's overall AP status as the main page already does.
Suicidal threads should have some other icon than just the normal lock.

PM's should have a Quick Reply box.

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7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

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Well, the 'Assign towards even' suggestion made by Terr sounds good.

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10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

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You didn't reply to any Site Suggestion for a month or two but now that you replied to them all it's fine -> nothing to complain about. :) We could have a 'JP status' in the front page under 'Site Status' (it has currently only got the Intrusion Attempts) where you could put an one liner about what you're doing.

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Originally posted here by JP
Greetings All:
1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

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Features specifically for the website? Perhaps a simpler method of accessing technical documents, with perhaps a large grouping of member-submitted items? The newsletters should also have their own docs section, IMO. The 'Security Text Files' link doesn't seem too attention-drawing.

Also, personally, I liked it when the member login information was on the left side of the page, and the navigation bar was on the right side of the page. That makes it a lot friendlier for site visitors (I generally ignore that piece of the page).

As has been pointed out, AntiOnline's main page seems nothing but a front for the forums. There's not a lot of content like on other sites. There's very few news things, that sort of thing.

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2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

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Well, perhaps the site could be less forum driven and more site-driven. I don't like the way the forums have become a place for people to stop by, ask one question, and then leave. If they need that, they could read the site for it, and then check the forum if they can't find the info they're looking for.

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3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

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I dunno, I'm hardly a visitor here anymore.

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4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

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Perfect, I hardly visit here. :)

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5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

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Once every 10 days or so, and I would visit more if there was more interesting technical discussion going on.

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6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

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Once every couple of weeks, and see question 5.

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7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

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The system is handy, but outta whack, perhaps a reset of all APs would be good, I don't know. It seems to me kind of insane that one bad post can ruin a whole thread. Perhaps making it so that a post only gets deleted if it receives enough -APs, rather than the entire thread. Perhaps some kind of posts-killed : thread gets killed ratio (say 40%) would be good? IE: if 4 posts in a thread of 10 get killed, the whole thread gets killed?

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8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

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Pretty good.

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9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

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Perhaps another webserver to speed requests up a bit?

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10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

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I like that you're very responsive to user comments/suggestions JP, but a little more communication when it comes to IRC would be handy. At least talk to your IRC Opers on a regular basis (regular consisting of more than once a week), if not talk to us ChanOps as well. You have our email addresses.

Personally, I'd like to see you answer emails more often, and that sort of thing. Basically your accessibility is a big problem, IMHO. I understand that you can't do everything, and that's okay, but you have to delegate that communication to someone. A lot of members have become cheesed off and left because of a combination of your inaccessibility, and the lack of quality discussion in both the IRC channel and the forums. I'm reaching that point myself, and I can understand why they'd find another place to go to.

1.) Formalize the tutorials and/or write articles that are of interest. At this point, AO seems just like a giant forum. There needs to be more front page advertising for things such as tutorials and/or articles to make it more of a legitimate information site.

2.) Other than the current state of IRC, I wouldn't change anything (excluding the AntiPoints system)

3.) The overall mood is somewhat poor. A lot of people are afraid t post (myself included) because of fear that someone with leprachauns carrying their antipoints will get me banned. I don't like the idea of thinking to myself, "Hey I might get banned if I post my opinion of the two IRC chat rooms." I seem to think that quite a few people that post on here post for no other reason than to chit chat about nothing, rather than talk about security, or even general computer issues. I remember back in the day before the new forums that there was a much smaller community, but it was much more heavily focused on computer security, and general computer issues.

4.) The ability to keep flames and spams down is adequate, but I still see quite a few members who have unbelievable amounts of antipoints flame newbies just for asking a question, and then that newb ends up being banned.

5.) I read posts all the time. I'd be more interested in reading posts if they had some sort of value to me, which the vast majority do not. I understand that this is a community, and as such you can't talk about computers all the time, but that happens to be where my interests lie, and right now on the front page I think it is about a 1/2 - 1/2 split between computer related threads and random threads, not to mention the fact that computer security related threads make up a small portion of the 1/2.

6.) I'll admit I don't post to the forums much, as is evidenced by my 120 something posts even though I was one of the first to sign up for the new forum. Basically I only post to two kinds of threads, ones that are intellectually stimulating and ones where I can answer questions. As you can tell by my post count those don't happen to occur all that often. I don't just post to say, "Hey, good post," and I think the only way to help me to post more is to have more meaningful threads.

7.) The AntiPoint system is fine, if you try not to consider it the AO populations popularity rating. I'm not going to mention any names because i think they are genuinely good people, but I'm quite sure that the reason they have a boatload of AntiPoints is because they are female, and not because their topics are intelligent or of value to the community. I mean the whole point of the system was to show whose posts are worth reading, and whose are worth skipping, and I gotta tell you I don't use AntiPoints to do it. I would change the AntiPoint system to take into account only posts made in relevant forums (ones related to computers and security, not made in general chit chat or cosmos), and I would also take into consideration post count (in the relevant forums) and how long you've been a member. Let's face it, any chump can post a topic in the General forum about how his girlfriend dumped him and how he feels girls like guys that are asses, and he'll get positive antipoints for it, but does that add to the Computer Security community? No, so why should that be represented in his AntiPoint count?

8.) The speed is excellent, especially considering it is all PHP based. Uptime can be flaky sometimes, but that most likely can't be helped.

9.) If I had 10K dollars I would start an AntiOnline security conference, and/or use it to make some genuinely original articles and tutorials and/or start a wargames server for established members of the community.

10.) I think the way you admin the website and IRC is fantastic. As a member, however, you don't make any posts that help us learn from you. I doubt many members can say they do research for the government, and while you might not be able to go into specifics, I'm sure you have more than a lot of lessons that you've learned the in the process.

11.) The only other comment is that I think that AntiOnline should start diversifying rather than just piling onto the forums. The forums are definitely the focus of the community, and that is fine, but you seem to be putting so much time into the forums that you don't put time into other projects. I think it'd be fantastic to have wargames, or some articles/tutorials posted on the main page (i.e. actually commisioned by AO, not just from the forums). Or maybe an AntiOnline security conference! The opportunities are boundless, but you just gotta lay off adding wierd, and obscure features to the forums first.

Also, going along the lines of the tutorials/articles, I really really liked it the way it used to be with the old AO when there was a lisiting of computer related news and articles and such at the top of the main page along with the mailbag.

Regards,
Wizeman

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?
You add them faster than I can think of one.

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?
I would change the 'receive updates to this thread' function, so that one:[list=a][*]receives an email when someone posts something to the subscribed thread.[*]can read the body of the added post in the email.[/list=a]
Furthermore, I would delete the 'tech humor' forum. It's unrelated, off topic, and it takes to much space. Delete all threads that handle jokes. Those are not what I hope to find here.

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?
I don't think that trying to steer the mood in one direction is a good idea. Let people speak out their minds, regardless of what they have to say. If one has to fit to a certain profile, everyone will be starting to say the same kind of things. Diversity is good! I started noticing some behaviour that I called 'witch-hunts'. Basicly, one person makes some unfunded statement, and like chickens without heads, 80% of the community follows his/her lead. In one occasion, it hurted one of the newer, but already well-respected member of this site, in another, a newbie was on the verge of being banned from the site, both because they were being accused of something they didn't do.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?
Balanced.

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?
Lately, I'm less often on here. Since you/the site went white-head, most of the spectacular activity has fled away. On top of that, one of my mostly beloved items, the news, has been discontinued. Basicly, nothing really interesting is happening anymore. In the old days, I had a good laugh every monday reading the Weekly Mailbag, but that too has been discontinued.

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?
I post whenever I feel I have something that would benefit the community. Because I'm a complete dipshit in the security-area, that isn't that much :)

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?
There's something wrong with the suicidal thread option. Some good threads hang themself because some ******* makes an unfunded post. The way that threads are rated is a little off too. The longer a thread lasts, the more it tends to stray off-topic. Thus, the first few posts should be counting heavier in the overall thread assesment than the last few.

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?
I'm on 100mb/s, and it's as fast as turtle on downers, even compared with other much-visited sites.

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?
News! Bring back the news! Pretty please?

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?
I think the way you write what you think is awesome. You don't seem to hide behind some corporate facage, you speak what's on your mind. What I do miss though, is your direct involvement in the site: although you created all this, you hardly ever participate. "Weekly Mailbag" is gone, and we hardly see any columns anymore, not even regular posts. Maybe part of those 10.000 should be spent hiring someone to take a little work out of your hands?

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......
Thumbs up for being brave enough to ask the community what they think.

1. i would love to see more technical discussions. i love to read the jokes as much as anyone else, but sometimes i'll go for weeks without seeing anything that interests me. maybe a forum for people to post code or talk about networking, theory, things of that nature?

2. i'm kind of in the opinion that there are too many features...i would like to see some of the forums and features cut to promote more computer related discussions.

3. i haven't seen this suggested before: how about instead of investing $10,000 into the site, you make some kind of antionline scholarship? anything going to computer sciences or security related fields?

oh well just my two cents....i think that you're doing a great job with everything you're doing :)

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

A (private?) forum only for newbies (a reverse version of the addict forum) in where they could express without be negged and without make "older" members angry.

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

The new similar thread feature could be limited, there's a lot of old threads restarted in the main page now.

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

happy at the first sight, but in fact the AP sys has corrupt all.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

good. there are flame sometimes but there are not a lot of spam.

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

during hollidays: 1 time each day. during work periods: 1 time each week. I really like tech news and tutorials

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

1 or 2 at each visit. I posts when I have "interesting" (according to me) answer or info.

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

The curent AP system is not really good. It is poisoning all the site: it is not a security forum but an AntiPoint discussions forum. If the system stay, it will have to be really restricted. And I think it could more interesting to replace it with good moderators.

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

With a 56k connection in France the speed is not so bad, but sometimes it's a too slow and I have a lot of problems to send replies (with different ISPs)

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

In the servers and speed quality.

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

You should be more present to forums. And not only for moderate but also for disscussions.

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

Even if I have not given optimistic answers the situation is not so desperate. AO is really one of the best forum sites.

What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

What we've got seems pretty good - you don't wanna be trying to include to much stuff as it might make the site seem a lil crowded

What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

Def the member spotlight - Msmittens we luvya really but come on lets hear about someone else!

How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

The mood among the more senior members appears fine - but everyone is gettin a lil sick of people bitchin about how they got neg'd for this - or flamed for that

How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

theres always gonna be flames/spam - hell sometimes theres nuthin better than venting your anger with a flame :) though not too often and you gotta do it with a lil style!

How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

As often as I can - I would read them more often if I didn't work as much....I don't think there is any feature you could add to make me want to read them more...i read them cause i enjoy reading the opinions and posts of other people.

How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

See last answer.....

What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

The one thing that gets a lil annoying for me is it doesn't show who gave you ++greenies - i know you can't show who gave you negs but it would be nice if people signed their greenies or it showed who gave those.

How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

****

If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

By buying some AO merchandise (t-shirts, keyrings lil stuff like that) and giving them out as gifts to the senior members....either that or start an AO store like thinkgeek.com

What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

You seem to be doing pretty well - and as i know nothing about running a site as large as this one i don't think i could give you any advice.

Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

Oh one thing - the new system of rewards like banner free surfing etc...it would be nice if it showed you what the next award you can earn is....so that it gave you something to work for

v_Ln

Ahhh, Gawd damn it.... AO is addicting, LOL

1. A way to select what forums you do and dont want to see on the main page.... Forums with no rating system (AntiPoints, etc.) Current News forum, A forum that newbies have to post in until they reach a certain post level or AntiPoint leve so they dont ask theri questions in ChitChat =)

2. The IRC split, Hard to keep track of 2 IRC channels...The files section, Allow members (as a site benefit or something) to post files, code, and books. The AntiPoint balancing, 'nuff said

3. Yeah, Like Christina said, The mood is not that good... I can name about 10 senior members off the top of my head who want to leave AO or arent posting at all because of the balancing and other reasons....

4. Heh, Flames are low.... So is spam...

5. Not often at all.... Mostly just news, So a news forum would be perfect =)

6. 1 per every 2 or 3 days

7. Give us a point-free forum =) And the balancing also sucks, LOL

8. Fast, I have Verizon and AO is pretty fast, But then again I do keep it as my homepage :rolleyes:

9. Hmmmm, Put up a seperate site just for tutorials so people sont have to browse through the forums.... tutorials.antionline.com? Make a indes listed by OS, Language, And topic... A lot like negatives index, But more up to date and easier to browse through.

10. Your a fair OP/Admin, Ummm.... Maybe 7 OPs in IRC is too much =)

11. Maybe an AntiOnline remote for anyone that wants to keep up on AO news, Like the ticker but so it would work in Linux, Like a small windows that pops up if you want it to that scrolls through the new topics ;)

I would say, do the following:

1. Make a "lite" HTML version of the site which loads more quickly and doesn't have as many images/ bloat on - make it use CSS properly etc and be as minimal as possible. This would be really good. [replace graphical buttons with text ones, don't show avatars. Display antipoints indication as text instead of green blobs]
Don't use spacer images, don't use deprecated elements like font, and pay no attention to old non-standards compliant browsers.

2. Reinstate the javascript "you have new PMs" popup on the front screen. But take care that it only appears once each time you get new PMs

3. The antipoints system is pretty much ok as far as i can tell, it could be better but I'm not sure how.

PS: I like valhallens idea about the AO shirts and stuff =)

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?
[Well, i would like those WarGames to take place, i was REALLY excited about those but they never happened. I would also like to see IRC interact with the site alittle more, kind of like whne AntiBot was around.]
2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?
[Well, i like everything the way it is for the most part]
3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?
[The mood is good, i dont see too many skidiot posts around]
4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?
[Flames and Spam are almost gone :)]
5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?
[I read them about once a day probably... often enough i think]
6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?
[I post every once in a while, i mostly only post when it soemthing i actualy know about]
7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?
[I like the antipoints system as it is..... but there are only 2 things id want, 1 is to get rid of "balance is key" well for the most part, unless a person gives ALOT of negative antipoints, 2 is i would definately like a "report AP abuse" button in the AntiPoint Center, wich would send a PM to some moderators so they can choose if its abuse or not.]
8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?
[Actualy pretty damn good, you guys r down every once in a while but its understandable cus you constantly update]
9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?
[I would spend it on a few things, 1 is definately wargames..... 2 is maybe some AntiOnline Merchendise?? i think that would be great.]
10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?
[JP, you do an EXCELENT job with this website, but i must admit i wouldnt mind reading some articles that you write every once in a while about security, kind of like on the old AO]
11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......
[Thanks for letting me part of this wonderfull community :)]

Your message boards are bad because they very rarely have anything to do with what this site used to be about. INTERNET SECURITY!!!

For instance. Take a look at the main screen right now and look at the topics that it is displaying:

Out of the 25-30 different message threads it is showing... Only 7 of those are in the security related forums. Out of those 7 there are only about two messages that are really about security and not someone commenting on netscape without mozzila..

When people do post in the security sections, it is normally something like, "Why isn't this harddrive working right?"

I think you should either not make the message boards the focal point of the site, or do something to get the level of conversation in the message boards raised up a couple of notches. It seems that this is moreso turning into a newbie help site then a security related site.

I used to visit the site much much more then I do now because you had the news on the front of the site.. So it was convenient to have one place to go for news from other sources. I now use securityfocus and snn1 as my primary outlets for news sources.

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1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

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This is rather basic, but would be handy: You should make the "Member Options" available on every page, not just out front. I don't like having to walk outside and press buttons just to change minor parts of my profile. Also, as it's been stated by my peers and idols above, there's no reason for Role Call, as it only makes newbies get negged. And a newbie forum only for them (us), where they can post and bump each other up before they get into the more ... prevalent forums. Also, when an email is sent telling you you have a message or new reply, the text of this message or reply should be included, because it requires opening a whole new window and gets to be a bit annoying.

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2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

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Mostly the forums work wonderfullly. You would do well to write a script that gives each perosn the chance to write a small bio, and then the "Member Spotlight" could be replaced by a random bio of anyone who has written one. That would make members get to know each other a lot faster (I personally haven't been around a month and I've only seen MsMittens out front)

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3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

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It's nice to see a lcak of elitism in the forums, and generally any post that would be better off dead gets that way fast enough.

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4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

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Excellent.

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5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

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I read them every time i sign in. Only if the posts become more of my area of interest, and the est way to do that is let ME write posts about the things I like and let others reply. We're all fully capable of making the forums more intersting.

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6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

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Nearly every time I sign in. If I don't make a post, I at least sign in and assign antipoints if I'm too busy to write something constructive.

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7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

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The fact that I can't assign many positive antipoints without having my opinio invalidated is sortof insulting. Most times whe I get online, if a post deserves -AP, it's already suicidal. Thus, I can't assign -AP without being a dick and doing the old "Just balancing." (which so far I've never done, thank god.)

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8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

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I connect via 56k and i've never NOT been able to get on to AntiOnline.

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9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

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I'd buy another server and double the amount of forums, even branching out into topics that aren't entirely within the current scope of the site. And I'd pay ac1dsp3ctrum because he (or she) is just incredibly intelligent.

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10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

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I signed up not too long ago, and I've been nothing but impressed with the site.

Quote:

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11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

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If JP gave me AntiPoints, I would nut.

Also, I find this site to be a wonderful collaboration of human beings (which like any grou phas bad apples), and one that I am proud to be a (small) part of.

1. If there was one new AO feature i'd like it would be the AO Radio thing you already thought of... but specifically we should be able to have AO talk shows about whatever like video games, gadgets, OS's, politics, computer exploits, hacking, etc...

2. n/a

3. The forums are totally chaotic. If you post something like a tutorial, you get negged. If someone disagrees with you, you get negged. blah blah blah. Cummon, where has freedom of speech gone?

4. Eh, its fine

5. I read posts whenever I can... usually they atract me when they don't have to do with security related issues.

6. I post whenever I want to... but i'm a lazy person so heh. I'd post more if I saw something interesting in the news or whatever.

7. The current AntiPoint system sucks. It was a lot better when I joined. I know you worked real hard coding and whatnot JP, and we've talked about this in AO IRC before... but truthfully, to many people are getting banned. People need to balance their point giving or else Miagi comes so they balance by giving negs to random people - which creates grudges. So one person negs you, you neg them back.. blah blah blah. So if i could describe the AO point system with 2 words, i'd say "it sucks."

8. Lately AO has been comming down alot... especially the IRC server. But I believe you said that was becuase of your ISP (so it isn't your fault). Aside from that availability & speed are fine.

9. If you had $10,000 ... hmmm....
A. well first off get a new ISP becuase your current one well.. blah!
B. Second, I heard you talking about the WarGame, and yet it still isn't up. I'd really like to see the WarGame finally up.
C. Perhaps you could hire another person

10. You're running the site just fine.

11. Eh... ker flargen! Blah!

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

Hmm.. New features eh... Well, I would like to see the following:

• An AO radio station, where we can hold radio shows on certain topics like new vulnerabilities, latest updates, product reviews, etc.. maybe some music also.
• More tutorials brought to the IRC channel.
• A better search engine for searching posts

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

I would change the forums around abit. Roll call? Byebye..
Mailbag? Does it exsist anymore?


3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

Mood? Well, I dislike all the whining that takes place. Rather than that I think the mood is fine.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

I don't even see any of this anymore.

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

Well, I try and read them everyday if possible. I have noticed though that the quality of post content has gone down some. Mostly has to do with the jokes forum etc.. I like the jokes forum, but does it really need to be on the front page?

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

I post only when I have something to add. Most times the posts have already been answered or are just not interesting enough for me to be worried about.


7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?


The AP system is good, but does need some improvements. Here are my thoughts:

• Balancing needs to be done away with, period.
• I would make it so only one positive point, and one negative point, can be assigned per post. Too many times when someone sees one post that was negative, everyone offloads on them, thus banning the person for just one disagreeable post. This has to stop. Its driving away users and is making others not give their opinions or info out of fear of banning.
• Gold dots! I think this will help make the senior members continue to post and help more. Many seniors don't post anymore because they feel its just not worth the time anymore. If Gold dots were implemented it would perhaps increase their involvment in the forums again.

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

I'm always on either DSL or a T1, so I have no problems with the speed. Availability has been pretty good also.


9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

Wargames.
If you had enough revenue why not start a security auditing team also? You should start an internet security firm, and gives some of the more educated users a contract here and there.


10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

I would personally like to see more involvement from you. I understand that you are very busy and have lots of things to do, but you could try and post a bit more and be more accessible to valid questions etc...


11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

Well, I think you have one of the best forums on the net. I definetly call this home and its great to see you asking what the community wants.

Well, thats enough from me.

Hey all,

Been away for a while due to course preparationg and such but since I have some time I thought I'd join in on this discussion. Overall I've always been happy with AO. It has a sort of Wild West feel to it at times and a feel of exploration when I find new things that I haven't thought of.

The one comment that has stood out to me is Wizeman's comment about what to do with $10,000: a conference. I think this is a great idea to solidify tutorials and such into a real concept. Perhaps not creating a new conference as there are a few out there but perhaps joining with existing ones.

I still like the idea of wargames and am a little disappointed they didn't show up earlier. Maybe later this year? I'd love to see AO create a team to compete say at other conferences wargames. ;)

Hear ....Hear..I second (or is it 10,000th everyone should love that) the wargame team idea....maybe a little "prelim" testing to see who should be said team?

Quote:

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Originally posted here by JP
Greetings All:

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the current state of AntiOnline. Particularly, I am interested in the answers to the following questions:

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1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

-- MORE?! I think this place rocks! It's so tempting to ask for a few more off-topic forums like 'games' or 'pc hardware' because so many computer enthusiasts are here, but you do a very good job of keeping us on-topic. :D
What about some online Q&A sessions about a specific topic run by yourself or some other expert in the field? For example, you could open up an IRC channel or some kind of JAVA window and dedicate it to scheduled topics (firewalls, good UNIX habits, etc). Folks ask questions, experts answer.
The wargame idea sounds good, too. However, instead of just "break this box", why not have teams for each system? Defenders and Attackers. We learn tips and tricks in the Forums, why not try them out on the wargame systems? It would be like sparring in martial arts. Each team would have the opportunity to try out attacks, and how to defend against them. Real-world application of these defenses would be awsome! The games should be a bit structured, though, so that only 1 team is attacking and 1 team is defending at any one time. You could keep things straight with a sign-up page.

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

-- Perhaps the speed of the site. Perhaps there are some DB queries that could be eliminated? I always see the "query" time at the bottom of the page, but it still takes a while for the pages to load. I must be pretty far away "as the wire travels", and sometimes I time out loading pages.

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

-- I agree with GG that it's kind of whiney, but I think there will always be people who can't take criticism (*cough* red points *cough) very well, but people have to take the good with the bad.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

-- I love the concept of suicide threads. I have only seen a couple of times when it killed a thread it shouldn't have. There are the occasional random bad threads, but you can't help those few people who decide to just be jerks.

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

-- I read the forums several times a day. I LOVE them! The only reason I don't hang out here more, is that I go to other forums that talk about 'games' or 'pc hardware'. :D

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

-- I post maybe once or twice a day. Sometimes I go for awhile between posts. I'd post more often if I had more to say, but I'm by no means an expert in anything yet. Don't want to give anyone bad advice!

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

-- Such a touchy subject with many. I think it's great save one feature. I have to neg people to stay balanced. I don't like hunting through threads I don't like just looking for someone to neg. I wish there were a way around that. How about this:

You can neg a post without affecting the user's rating.
Overly negged posts go suicidal.
If the user frequently makes posts like this, you can affect their user rating (perhaps somewhere in their profile)
Overly negged user rating will result in a ban.

Just an idea.

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

-- Speed is a little slow, but I don't mind much considering the content we get!
-- I sometimes have problems with availablity, but I think it's my service provider, not AO.

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

-- Give JP a vacation so JP is happy, then maybe he'd join us in the forums. :bigsmile:

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

-- Again, I'd love to hear your voice a bit more in the forums, but I realilze you're a busy guy.

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

-- Holy cow. Keep up the good work. This site kicks much butt. If my site eventually contains 1/10th the panache/snazziness/style/flair/elegance of this site I'll be very proud!

I'm looking for good, honest, group discussion about these points. It is the members that shape this community, so here's your chance to be heard.

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?
A: Only real feature would be the gold dots idea.

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?
A: Definitely the IRC split. Member Spotlight. Sorry MsMittens, we love you, but it should be a different member every two weeks. Also, maybe some up-and-coming members can be on it ;)

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how? A: I think the mood is great, but the balancing would make it better.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums? A: Your doing great. Keep it up! :)

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often? A: Well, I post more than I read but I read a good three times a day.

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often? A: I post a good 5 times a day. I would want to post more if Im wasn't so fecking scared of people who want to balance it out.

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?
A: Heh, I'd like it better with users being able to have gold dots and I'd definitely without question, take out the balancing thing.

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?
A: Well, I personally think you guys are down every now and then but overall it's great.

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?
A: Definitely WarGames and Merchandise.

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?
A: I like the way you run it, but, however, I do think that perhaps you can meet with moderators and have a better relationship with them so it isn't really one person running and making decisions for it, but a good "cabinet" of people that can make valiant suggestions and go to you so it also has the Checks and Balance system of the U.S government. (Sorry, you asked for my personal opinion)

11. Free for all.
A: Uhh, I think everything is great. I just would really love gold dots and to take out the balance is key thing. Taking that out my lighten the mood and improve the mood around the site/forums/irc. Thanks! :) --Jason (JC) Copeland

I think the site lacks motivation. I think it has become more about the site itself than the content...

I think many of us would like to see more technical discusions take place. Some chit chat might be nice, but with APs, chit chat has been transformed into a popularity contest. (When you look at the many of the high antipointers profiles, the technical/chit chat post ratio is quite low...)

Just a thought, perhaps something like a weekly animated (like by you) thread (sticky on the main page) on a proposed technical subject could help fuel daily discussions...

Perhaps something like a weekly/bi-weekly/montly "challenge" where you could submit answers in teams... Something like "suggest a network design with such and such requirements and restrictions...", "analyse these these logs and try to find how this system was compromised..." or something more like the wargames idea...

I don't think the site will survive much longer if new stuff (not site features) doesn't come soon...

By the way, I'd be interested in seeing an "active members" stat counter... 105000 members might look impressive, but considering that there's rarely more than 300 users only at once, the total members count almost seems to me like silly accounting...

Nevertheless, I think it's still time to turn things around...

Ammo

I'm not sure about everything yet, but I will say...

Can you bring back the news feed?

I think it would help on the news facet of the site. I feel that it doesn't make much sense to try to shore up the weaknesses of the site (not many formal reviews, previews, guides, and authoritative information)... However, it would make sense to try to take the strong part of the site, the forums, and branch out from there, into news discussion (a dedicated newsfeed like there used to be would help), and after that... well... what else would help?

I just had an idea about helping people out, but it's probably pretty stupid given the inevitable how-to-hack-my-hotmail requests and such.

What about a member-finder?? You could put your location into an AO database (not the same as profile, something private) and then other members could search for people in their general location. When they get a list of people (not their real forums names or real life names, just a placeholde), their approximate distances, and interest-lists, they could then PM the users. It would be up to the user to reply back, disclosing who they were. That way you could find local AOers more easily, as well as developing a potential WAUG. I just coined that. Wide Area User Group. Pronounced 'Wog'. :)

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

Just fine the way it is, features are not what keeps my attention, the users do.

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

Not a thing JP.

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

Too many people whining about people whining.
Immature members with lots of AP clout abusing their senority.
Not enough members willing to help out the newbies who generally have NO idea how AO works.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

Been doing real good as of late.

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

Daily...

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

When I have something I want to share or get an opinion on, or if it involves an issue I can add to or be helpful with.
I would post more often if there was a forum for technical/hardware/configuration issues not dedicated solely to security.

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

I like it just the way it is, it has been working as far as I see, I agree with GG about the Miyagi message, please make it a bit smaller... ;)

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

It seems to be doing the trick.

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

Hmmm, this is a hard one. How about using it for site rewards and incentives, prizes for contest winners, etc...

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

Be more visible.
Answer the emails directed towards site issues and membership.
Answer the threads in site suggestions, and be just a wee bit more tactful at your answers.
Just MHO...

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

All together JP, w0000000000t!!!
Keep up the very good work you are doing and Thank You for all your hard work, tis a fine board.

1. Hrm...I'm not one to give suggestions for pointless/useless/un-needed features. I'm a person who works with what he has, and if I can do it in a manor of proper time and maintain my sanity - I'm a happy man. I opt for no new features (unless somebody really has something good to add), for I'm sure 75% of the AntiPoint population are not aware of half the features of this site, or couldn't give a rat's ass or second thought about using it for what it was mainly intended for.
Ah...an idea. Maybe during the initial email to the registered user, you could have a second email listing all the features of the site, and the potential/excitment you may get from using them...just an idea though.

2. Hrm...I'm on the verge of asking you personally to change how the "suicide threads" act. I don't think AntiPoints should be acknoledged for anything other than the User Benifits and AntiOnline Addicts. I believe good, trustworthy, and willing moderators should be chesen to sift through the pages... but you see this would take a vast amount of time, and the work might even have to be divided. So I'm not sure what your going to do there. It's just that ...it's a shame a whole thread must close do to one stupid remark which brought a huge amount of negative AntiPoints...eventually killing a good thread.


3. The current mood, imo, is farked. It could be improved, maybe...if you, JP, would contribute to the threads a bit more, besides for merely replying in SiteSuggestions. Maybe if you, yes you, JP, found something interesting on BugTraq, or SecurityFocus, etc. etc., you could start a new thread and actually give your opinion to the matter or issue. Now, if your a busy man (and it looks like you are), this may be a problem... but it's only a Father's job to do an extra special thing like this ...giving gifts (features) doens't solve every problem you know.


4. Could care less. They happen to the best of the sites,... leave 'em alone. Try not to push too many people's (lamers) buttons and we're all fine. But I must say, AO has done an EXCELLENT job at flames, and the likewise.


5. Honestly, about two months ago, I'd read 90% of the posts that came to the main page, and then I'd even search though the forums to see if I've missed anything particularly interesting that didn't make it's way to "The Billboard Chart" (mainpage). But recently, I've only been reading posts with a good topic name; because honestly, I could care less right now. With all the whining going on around lately...bah. I'm not sure whats to be done with this problem...maybe if the mood changed to an upward slant?...*ponders*...


6. Recently, I've been posting less. And I only post when my view hasn't already been expressed through another members post...thats what the [positive]AntiPoints are for people... But if my view hasn't been explained to fullest detail, I will post. And...I try to post only to rather "non-lame" threads (ie. Cosmos, anything computer wise where the rest of the crowd who posted aren't saying stupid, smart alic responses)...


7. It's great, it's perfect, I love it. Screw anybody who doesn't... it's just another feature you'll have to live with. Sorta like taking a ****... Hell, I don't like doing it,...who does (besides those kinky sons-of-bitches)? ...just something that you've gotta deal with people...Jesus - stop complaining.


8. Quite above average at times... it's IRC that seems to have the most troubles :P. But overall, it's doing fine.


9. I'd try to buy a social life first...

10. I would stop ****ing around with features and actually help with the conversation in these threads. When you talk on IRC, ...things seem, oh I dunno, alot "better" (can't find proper word) for some reason.

11. AntiOnline - my second residence...

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

Well, A system that kill's off old thread's, but with a back door, like, at least three people need to vote it "Alive", this way, we wouldn't get Thread's haunting the forum coz some one want's them too....

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

The Thread balance, I don't feel that "Some what Posetive/Negative" is good enough to cover the thread's content, a ratio or a percentage etc.

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

I think the mood of the Forum is getting more and more tense, as if people are being goverend by the AP system and/or the way some of the higher ranking User's will kill off any one who has a view other than their's.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

Since the "Hang-Man" Post's came along it's gotten better, but then again, it's been killing thread's that where quite good, maby a Re-animation button to make a Zombie thread
(A Thread that will only live a short time if no one post's)

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

Every Now and again.
Beside's A better connection......A personal filter, one where I could stop some thread's showing up on the Front page, like *NIX thread's for exammple, I don't know *NIX thus I don't really care.

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

Not often.
Um, I don't really know, a Skin-system maby, I for one am getting a bit tired of the LA Laker's colour's.

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

A sliding bar, one where you could give people a only some or all AO point's, as it is, all you can do is give them is All or Nothing.

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

Fast enough, and up virtualy all the time :)

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

More storage, that way you could exspand on what information is recorded. Maby some advertising, I think we need new blood.

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

You'r not here that often, so you don't get to see all that much of the forum, I feel you should become more involved in the smaller topic's of the people. But besides that you'r doing a great job.

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

I feel lika a suggestion Whore......so I'øø shut up now.

- Noia

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?

More tutorials...

2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?

Ack! More tutorials!

3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?

Generally, the moods seems stable. The additude "leveler" in most cases seem to come from the points system, so I thought I would throw that in there. We keep each other on our best behavior (hey!), so that's cool.

4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?

See #3... Oh the other hand... Some of us like to flame people who ask blatently stupid questions... Then, some of us enjoy reading the flames... Sometimes, it's just a spice of life.

5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?

I'll read any post/thread that has a subject line pertaining to something that I would be interested in. The posts are usually true to their subject. It's the subjects like "help me!", "newbie here", or "dumb question," that I usually skip over. Too vague, man! The people on the "o-god" levels should be able to either delete threads with unrelating subjects or at least be able to change the subject string to something pertaining to the.... um... subject? Yeah... Besides... That would make searching forums a much less tedious process.

6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?

I'm still new here, so I only have 66 posts... I'm answering this so as not to acquire any bad luck... (6 is unlucky, 66 is 10 degrees worse, and 666 is like driving a truckload of mirrors off a cliff or something to that illness. sSs).... So now, I'm 67 posts! :)

7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?

I'm still relatively new here, and I don't know all the ins and outs, so I'll suffice to say that it's purpose was of good intent, and it seems to be working effectively (take a look around... This is probably the cleanest forum that I've munched through to date!)

8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?

Sometime it go, sometime it slow... As long as it loads, I really don't care. I can download something in the meantime... (remember the commercial with the kid asking "Is it loaded yet?") Seriously, though... I'm no speed deamon. Slow is cool as long at it keeps coming...

9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?

Maybe if you paid the new members to read the FAQs, they'd quit asking how to break stuff! LoL Well.... If speed is a real concern, then mayhaps the hardware/connection needs a look-over. Or a mirror site, perhaps? Shoot... Take the money and run, man!

10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?

Being that I am still relatively new here, I can't say that I've acquired much of that "insight." I will say that questionaires such as these show that you care (which is certainly appreciated by most if not all). Furthermore, AO itself shows the great deal of detail that was put into writing it. That certainly has to be appreciated. I'm in favor.

11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......

What the heck is "woot?" Sounds like a foreign login for a sysadmin...

I'm looking for good, honest, group discussion about these points. It is the members that shape this community, so here's your chance to be heard.

And that's what makes AO great. thx!

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Joey_Batch_File
2. The forum topics, I would suggest spreading them out such as "Hackers.com's BBS Forum"

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- http://www.hackers.com/bulletin/

Quote:

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AntiOnline Site Related

*How Do I / What Is.
*Roll Call
*Site Suggestions
*Oops! A Bug!

AntiOnline "Special Feature" Discussions

*New Features
*AntiOnline Newsletter
*AntiOnline's Project Wargame

General Discussion Forums

*AntiOnline's General Chit Chat
*Tech Humor
*General Software
*Product/Book Review
*Training/Conference Review

Newbie Help

*Newbie Security Questions
*How To's
*Tutorials

OS Forum

*Windows 95/98/ME/XP
*Windows NT/2000
*Linux/BSD
*Mac

Security Discussions

*IDS & Scanner
*Firewall & Honeypot
*Microsoft Security
*Unix/Linix/BSD Security
*Mac Security
*Network Security
*Computer Forensics
*Misc Security


Software/Programming

*Programming General
*Games
*AntiVirus
*Database
*Scripting Languages
*Java
*Web Design and Development

Hardware

*Cell Phones
*PDAs/Handhelds
*General Hardware
*Compatibility Issues

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Quote:

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Originally posted here by mohaughn
Your message boards are bad because they very rarely have anything to do with what this site used to be about. INTERNET SECURITY!!!

For instance. Take a look at the main screen right now and look at the topics that it is displaying:

Out of the 25-30 different message threads it is showing... Only 7 of those are in the security related forums. Out of those 7 there are only about two messages that are really about security and not someone commenting on netscape without mozzila..

When people do post in the security sections, it is normally something like, "Why isn't this harddrive working right?"

I think you should either not make the message boards the focal point of the site, or do something to get the level of conversation in the message boards raised up a couple of notches. It seems that this is moreso turning into a newbie help site then a security related site.

I used to visit the site much much more then I do now because you had the news on the front of the site.. So it was convenient to have one place to go for news from other sources. I now use securityfocus and snn1 as my primary outlets for news sources.

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HAHAHAHA.. Gotta love it.. The administrator of this websites asks people for honest opinions.. And I give mine, which seems to be an opinion shared by several others here, and the negative points start flying. Even worse then that is that I provided actual data rather then just saying "Hey, this sucks."

And don't take this to be a whine about negative antipoints.. because I could care less about that pooh..

Quote:

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Originally posted here by Terr
I'm not sure about everything yet, but I will say...

Can you bring back the news feed?

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I TOTALY AGREE!!!!

leave the most recent threads up as well, just put them under the news, and they dont have to be as many as they are now :)

I used to loooove to read all those news articles here... now i have to go to cnn.com to read news, lol im tooo lazy JP that was an awsome feature.

1. What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?
I like the idea of a newbies-only formum that would allow them to learn to post (without fear of antipoints)
2. What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?
I would like to see more technical and security related postings (no humor--it gets old as it seems as if everyone is using humor to rack up greenies)
3. How would you describe the current mood in the forums, does the mood need to be improved upon, and if so, how?
The mood is one of walking on pins and needles. I feel like most people are scared to post for fear of getting banned....even if they have something valid to post.
4. How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums?
Its great...However, i do enjoying seeing good flames every once in a while..Hehe...You are doing great in this area
5. How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more often?
I skim them several times a day...however, i would want to read them if there were more tuts and technical issues.
6. How often do you make a post to the forums? What might make you want to post more often?
I post at least once a day. I would post more if I didn't have to worry about being neg'd because someone needed to balance their points and I wasn't worried about losing so many antipoints.
7. What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it, if at all?
Do away with the "balance act" Its a waste of time and just makes people pissed off. Also, I agree with the idea earlier about limiting number of antipoints to 1 to 10 points based on a persons standing in the forums. This would make people less scared to post good stuff lest someone hit them for 40 or more negs (like i had happen 3 times in a row).
8. How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?
The speed is fair....and the availability,(ive never had a problem reaching it, just sometimes, it takes forever.
9. If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?
Add more bandwidth
10. What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me (I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)?
Overall, i think you are doing a great job, but like most people say, we would like to hear from you. Maybe you could post some good tuts as well
11. Free for all. Any other comments that you might have......
Keep up the good work, Just try to understand that when you have alot of people with the same problem (antipoints), then there needs to be something done about it.

Just my 2 cents....however, overall, i love the site.

1)What NEW features would you most like to see added to the AntiOnline website?
I would like to see more privileges for Senior Members (now that was self-serving, wasn't it?), e.g., custom titles. A Senior Member could have the "Senior Member" title, and/or a custom title underneath his/her name. Maybe some other perks too. Also, computer and tech related news would be good. I really would like to see a Technical Help Forum for general computer issues and problems.
2)What CURRENT features would you change, and how (excluding the antipoints system)?
I like the member spotlight feature. But it would be good to change the person every 30 days.
3)[B]How would you describe the current mood in the forums? Does the modd need to be improved on, and if so, how?[B]
Hmm, it does seem like a lot of the more Senior members aren't very active. I haven't seen Korp Death in a long time, and some of the others aren't nearly as active as when I first came. I'm not sure how to bring them back, but I think people with skills are a big boost to the site. I think the overall mood is somewhat paranoid. I think many people are reluctant to post because of fear of being negged.
4)[B]How would you rate our current ability to keep flames and spam to a minimum in the forums? [B] Very Good. If chemical or oblio were around today they would last about three minutes if they started some of their trolling. On the other hand, the balancing feature and freeflowing use of negatives has many people paranoid about posting.
5)[B]How often do you read posts in the forums? What might make you want to read them more?[B] I'm in the forums daily, usually morning and night. More how-to and technically related stuff. I want to learn about computer security and security.
[B]6) How often do you make a post to the forums? what might make you want to post more often?[B] I really don't know how often. I will probably post more when I know more and can speak more intelligently to more issues.
[B]7) What is your opinion of the current AntiPoints System? How would you change it,
if at all?[B] Although it has it's good points, I'm starting to think it takes away more from the site than it adds. I would lean toward scrapping it. See question 11.
[B]8) How would you rate the speed and availability of the AntiOnline website?[B]
Very good now that the new servers are up.
[B]9) If you had $10,000 to spend to further improve the AntiOnline website, how would you spend it?[B] I don't know.
[B]10)What is your current opinion of the way that I'm personally running the site? What would you do differently if you were me(I can take criticism, so don't worry about voicing your true opinion)? I think you are pretty responsive to suggestions, and that's good. As others have said, I would like to see you post more, although I'm sure you have a busy schedule. I would like to see you share more of your expertise with us. Maybe some tutorials written by you. Maybe you could write a column for the newsletter now and then.
[B]11)Free for all. Any other comments you may have....[B] Instead of the current antipoint system, I would rather have more moderators with more power. Current moderators do a good job, but they're spread too thin. They should have more power too. If someone gets out of line, let a moderator delete their posts, and if they persist, the moderator should be able to ban someone.

Thanks for asking for our opinions.