I have noticed since soming to the AO forums that there is a funny thing that goes on here.

Things are often posted that have little or nothing to do with security. Like `how do I set up X Windows in Red Hat' or some other question in the *nix security forum. I am always willing to help out another if I can. I guess that the name *nix security would seem to me to have more things like preventing or detecting root-kits on your *nix box or something like that. In other words the security forums often have only a few posts about security in them. I do respond to these non-security questions if I feel that I can help, but that is just me. I would simply like to see more *security* being discussed on the site.

Tutorials. I have seen tutorials ripped straight from someone else's site, some that I suspect were simply re-written in the posters own words, some that were all original material, and a couple that were just not even helpful or even acurate whether they were plagerized or not. Some posters get away with work that I suspect is not their own, and others get busted on it. Since few of these are really all that good anyway, why not just find some good/accurate ones, clean them up if they need that , and give the original author some or all of the credit (as the case dictates).

`How do i hack [insert exploitable thingy here]?'
Come on now, there are a hundred sites and irc channels where you can get this info. It is like asking 'how do I do a drive by?' 'How do you pick a lock?' `How do you roll a joint?' Not only are these the kind of questions that reflect badly on the poster but on any responders that help out. They just aren't the kind of thing that is appropriate at a site where the intent is to improve the readers knowledge of securing a system or systems. A genuine interest in how a thing is done is a different story though for the prupose of knowledge and a better understanding of security.

Polls. Polls are ok, but how many `What OS?' Polls do we actually need floating around out there? `Should I stay or should I go?' and other such things are alright but I would recommend keeping these to a minimum. A great suggestion on any forum is to look back into the threads pretty far before posting to see if the issue has been covered or not. ( Which I did not do in this case, I felt like bitching and was too lazy to read all the other gripes of the past) I have noticed that when someone does post to an older thread it hits the main page anyway, so it isn't like these get completely buried and forgotten.

Last but not least is flames. I don't think flames are a bad thing as long as the person either had it coming due to a post (perhaps this one? ) or a reply. Feel free to flame me or even correct me if you care to. On the subject of corrections, be sure and correct the person on something that they actually said. Not the perception of what was said. In short.. Flame/correct away if that is what you like to do, just be sure and have your sh*t together if you come after me.

My chief concern here is a potentially useful site, ....maybe.