State of AO!

Hi guys

I just realised that most of the more well established members of AO seem to have left us (or they're just hiding), which in my opinion is worrying.
For example, i was just looking at str34m3r's profile and apparently he has left the AO community indefinitely because of

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I get bored reading all the AP whining every day. I'll check back every once in a while to see if anything gets better

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IMO it was these members who have made AO the place it is today (with the help of JP of course) and without them the state of the AO threads will deteriorate. My opinion of course.

So i say, bring back the thread topics that drew me here in the first place!

Thanks and goodnight!

Regards

r3b00+

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IMO it was these members who have made AO the place it is today (with the help of JP of course) and without them the state of the AO threads will deteriorate. My opinion of course.

So i say, bring back the thread topics that drew me here in the first place!

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People come and people go all the time, that's a simple fact of life (and many returns sooner or later). IMHO AO is not dependent of old members to be a good place, it's up to all active members to make this a good place and everybody has to contribute to this society not only the old members :).

~micael

I agree but fact of the matter is the general quality of threads HAS deteriorated during my time here, and i would put that down to the fact that the old hands havent been around as much!

r3b00+

It seems to me the quality of the threads fluctuates.I don't think there's been some catastrophic deterioration in the site.As a matter of fact between 2 and three weeks ago it was worse in my opinion.A lot more whining,Moderator/Senior member conspiracy theories,and people being banned left and right.

I think that their is a general consensus about the lack of qualityin threads,
I'm ill placed to make that commant since i've been in and out of AO but i think that a the orignal idea for this site should be more inspired. ie no threads about what the colors of the shoes of jerry springer but rather specific security/hardware/networking issues

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think that their is a general consensus about the lack of qualityin threads,
I'm ill placed to make that commant since i've been in and out of AO but i think that a the orignal idea for this site should be more inspired. ie no threads about what the colors of the shoes of jerry springer but rather specific security/hardware/networking issues

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this is what i was trying to say in the "follow the leader" thread (ie) we shouldnt post about every little thing in the news like fat people sue mc'donalds com on if i wanted to read that i would open my newspaper or change the channel to sky news.I will be the first to admit that i have posted some sh**y threads but most of my threads are computer related i think i have only posted meaninglless crap a few time but as micael said

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it's up to all active members to make this a good place and everybody has to contribute to this society not only the old members .

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if we want to turn the discussions around it's up to us all we cant exactly point any fingers at certain people for the threads either because most of us are guilty of doing it ourselfs one time or another

peace

I'm still here. Then again, maybe I'm not considered an established member....

So is negative, tedob1, Ennis, Confirmed_Kill, allenb1963, etc. Most of the top10 ap earners...even the ones that were banned are comming back with new nicks...

Also VictorKaum, and others from the top10 posters.

Yeah, some of the "addicts" have left, but some are just in rehab.

I'm with prodikal on this one, not because I'm a 'sheep' or whatever, but instead of complaining, as it seems many are doing in threads lately, make a concious effort to improve the forums. If you think there are too many news posts or non-security related posts, don't even bother with them, go straight to the technical posts and offer your help with whatever question someone has, or stick to strictly technical discussions. Start posting your own questions that are security related, and of course, post more tutorials, as that will help people to learn. It may take a while, but people notice these things, and you'll eventually get a response, rather than posting threads about how you got negged for this and that...blah, blah, blah.

And most importantly, remember, you're not going to please everyone with your ideas. You're going to get negged no matter what you do, because that's just how it is. Unless it's abuse, which should be taken up with JP, just grin and bear it, learn from it, move on (even if it was pointless). I tend to laugh about mine, especially the pointless ones. But don't let that bully you out of posting because a few people out of so many members disagreed with what you said. Be yourself, and help the community bring back what made AO a great security forum.

I agree with GreekGoddess because I am her sheep. But honestly...all of us make AO...it is only as good as each of us make it.

Together we will make something awesome!

Louie, please ...

I came to this site to learn about computers and security . I have learned from the other links that were recommended to me I know a bit more about routers and OS systems and it has helped me to refomat my drive. Books have been recommended to me also.Perhaps you should have simple tutorials for beginners such as I and easy links to them and other more advanced technical tutorials for those who really know their stuff and understand all the terminology being used. If this site were very cut and dried and very very technical I would most likely know I was up against a brick wall. But it is made up of human beings with all of their virtues and faults. That is one of the things for me (personally) that makes it different To bump up against another intelligenceand learn from it is fascinating as for being a sheep I simply try to be courteous , I think that quality greases the wheels fo the world and makes it easier to co-exist Auntie

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But honestly...all of us make AO...it is only as good as each of us make it.

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then with me here this site must be almost God like :D

lol

v_Ln

OK, I am putting on my flame retardant underwear because I am going to bring a couple of counter points.

When I read posts it is the quality of the post that is important not the number of AP points the person has. I qualify this by saying that most members sporting that full line of greens have fairly consistently high quality posts. However there are new members whose posts are also top notch and this means new insights and new input (reference TheOldMan and Chuck66 as well as many others). So while I hope all of the old members stay a good influx of new members also adds to the power and viability of the site.

The second point is that this is a fairly hard core technical site. The tutorials run the gamet from fairly simple to fairly deep with some being very deep (or at least very deep for me). There are a lot of them and they cover lots of topics. The fact that they weren't posted in the last 7 days or so does not detract from them at all. Also, the fact that you probably should not post replies to them should not be a reason to avoid reading them. This business is very dynamic but there is an underlying bedrock of knowledge that can be learned as well and does not change very quickly.

I also love the non-technical topics. Sometimes I am at work and just want to scream if I have to deal with one more technical fact. I love scanning the new threads looking for interesting things whether they are technical or not. I like hearing about new stories that I would probably not find on my own. I like getting into debates about topics designed to stretch our views. I enjoy having some humor topics where I can enjoy the lighter side of life for a bit.

There are lots of security only sites. I go to some of them but I always come back here. I spend more time here than the rest. Why? Because you get to know people a bit here. You converse with them technically and socially. Because it is a community and when some one who has contributed leaves it is noticed. Whether the topics and threads are good today or bad I will be back tomorrow because this is a fun and useful place to be. Furthermore I would bet that the statement that the quality of the threads are declining started appearing about two days after this site was first put up :)

I disagree with the opinion that long time members come up with better posts then new ones. A new member here doesn't mean the guy has no experience with security. All of us were newbie once...

I have to agree though that many posts are about antipoints and that annoys me a bit since in my mind they are not very important... Whenever I get antipoints, the comment that comes with them is only 2-3 words long... It doesn't give me any new information neither affect the quality of the experience here for me.

I have to agree though that poor quality of posts has one important effect on the community, it will not help get knowledgeable people to become members. I wish we had less whining and fighting posts as they give prospects a bad image of what AO is.

Yeah, I disagree as well. Just because your status at AntiOnline says "Newbie" doesn't mean you are a newbie to Computer Security or that you don't know anything. I'm sure some newbies are very smart (I hope I am :() and I also think that as much as most Senior Member's are highly intelligent individuals, it also isn't hard to get Senior Status. Remember, I think that most of the Senior Member's here are EXTREMELY bright and intelligent people. But, like I've stated, it isn't hard to achieve Senior status.

ok.. it's all because I haven't been posting here that the quality hasn't "been there" .. RIGHT ?
I'm sure you all missed me (not).. :rolleyes:

but really... I have to admit.. for the past few months (or 4-10) .. seeing all the crap going down, it just depressed me to see this place slip.. I don't FEEL the presence of the "community".. I feel hosility, resentment.. trickery.. banned folks come back to haunt and pillage.. I suppose that's what happens to a big place and where so much was put upon the antipoint system.. I ain't saying that I'm leaving..(too much here to miss in the way of entertainement) I will visit.. read.. learn..help where I can.. but somehow, I'll always feel that something much greater than what we have now was lost. :(

/me slips into coma...

All the green dots really mean is that you provide good information, you say things that lots of other members agree with, or you got lots of friends who will green you for no good reason. Other than that, they should have no bearing on us at all save for the task they were designed to do. Easy for a senior member to say, right? Yeah, probably so....but I got here by watching how others posted and learning, then by trying to formulate decent posts myself....the system is designed to reward good posters and punish bad ones. Aside from a few cases of blatent abuse, it works pretty darn good.

As for the quality of the posts, well thats a 'subjective' subject, to be sure. Has there been a general drift away from the security aspect of the forums? Yeah, it looks like there has been as of late. Is this a bad thing? Probably not....AO is going to go thru 'growing spurts' that cause 'growing pains' just like any other community. Who's to blame? ALL of us are, since we are each in some small way responsible for the threads posted and the quality thereof. But I will say this...if AO was meant to be a PURE security site, then there would be no "Cosmos", no "General Chit Chat", and certainly no "Tech Humor" forum present. If someone has a problem with the fact that those forums do exist, then they should ask JP if he can set the system up to allow you to 'block' posts in certain forums from being displayed on the main page by your browser...that way if you only want to see a certain type of post, thats all you'll see. As for me, I want the whole AO enchilada...the good, the bad, and the....well, lets try to keep the ugly to a minimum, OK?

LOL i didnt knew i was missed.. oh well.. sorry if i havent been on lately.. actually i havent been on AO for MONTHS now.. hehehe sorry... just found a new craze.. playing Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption on-line.. heheheh but i do visit this site now and then.. checkin whats happenin. anyhow.. i hope AO is gettin better thann the last time i was an active member. i think i will be active again soon.. hehehehe. its k. ill be checkin from now and then.

anyhow.. AO's fate lies on the hands of u new members, not on us Seniors coz we wont be here forever. so DO WELL!! MAKE US PROUD! *raises his cane with his right hand and cheers*

He said 'cane' but we all know he ment 'drink'... :)

Panic over - I was on holiday ;) (Bali - 4 weeks - WOW!)

I've never really talked to you s0nIc, but since that post I skimmed through your profile and see that you make great posts. I'd have to say about the one you just made, I agree. The fate does sort of lie in us New members (I guess) and that we should try to help contribute to the forums and be an asset to it. We should post meaningful instead of meaningless and we should take away the thought of doing anything to degrade the forums. I myself plan to become an asset and a valuable member (I hope) to AntiOnline. I hope others plan to do this as well.