The State Of AntiOnline 8/19/2002

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.

Quote:

---

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

---

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.

Quote:

---

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

---

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)

Quote:

---

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

---

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.

Quote:

---

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

---

Excellent.

Quote:

---

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

---

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.

Quote:

---

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

---

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.

Quote:

---

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

---

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.)

Quote:

---

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

---

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

Quote:

---

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

---

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.

Quote:

---

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

Quote:

---

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

---

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:

---

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?

-- 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