Is this forum dying?

[VulpiArgenti]

I am saddened to see a fundamental change in the forum:

• Activity falling off (perhaps not helped by the ongoing log-on bugs)
• A preponderance of totally basic Linux (not backtrack) questions
• Lack of follow-up posts
• Few posts by senior/experienced members, virtually none by mods/devs (probably a result of the above)

Have all the good people left for their own blogs? Twitter? Even worse, Facebook?

Is this a web-wide trend, the way of the future? Or can/should anything be done?

I don't mean to offend anyone (and some may feel it's not my place to make such comments); just hoping to stimulate some discussion and ideas.

[compaq]

Personal I think other forums are the same. On this blog there are how-tos on router setup and hack , and some exploit writing, but thats about it. It needs more areas apart from local lan type stuff.

[Barry]

Yes, it is. Like you said, there used to be some really good posts here, now it's mostly just basic linux questions.

[comaX]

I remember a very active time during BT4R2 period, and then with BT5, it seems like it started agonizing. The heavy problems the forum had for a while sure didn't help I think.

Even though the forum might be dying, I think there are still quality posts out there to find.

As for the mods/devs, they surely have better things to do for an actual salary. Being a mod elsewhere, I can understand what it represents in terms of work and time spent doing this, for free, and most of the time about not really interesting stuff...

[daedalus1776]

With all the basic linux questions and lack of self-motivation from users (Most ask questions first before even thinking of trying google) I'm starting to wonder why I'm still here...

[Bl4cks4b3r]

With all the basic linux questions and lack of self-motivation from users (Most ask questions first before even thinking of trying google) I'm starting to wonder why I'm still here...

And there is a place... no its no petoria. I reside there.

[stepking2]

I like this forum really much, because there is little to none LQ posts. But the bugs with the login is seriously annoying.
This forum is real, but there isn't that much activity. If you look at SkidForums (HackForums), in the WiFi section, there is always LQ posts and fights.

BackTrack forum will always be my favorite, now and in the future!

[TAPE]

I would agree to the above posts in general.
> Activity here is definitely at an all-time low.
> The forum log-in bug is annoying as hell, not helping the forum activity.
> Other Pentest forums seem to also be low on activity with regards to INFOSEC related posts.

One of the things I always liked about this forum was that the quality of response was good
if the quality of the query was good.
Now both seem to have taken a bit of a tumble.

But whatever the case, the knowledge base here on the forums is nothing short of awesome
which is why it will never die for me

[erhardm]

I remember a very active time during BT4R2 period, and then with BT5, it seems like it started agonizing. The heavy problems the forum had for a while sure didn't help I think.

IMHO the best time of this forum was the old one, remote-exploit, right before the transition to the new domain and it lasted aprox 6 months. It was before all the ubuntu crowd found Backtrack.
Slackware was a good technical barrier to scare most newbies that nowadays are confusing this forum with LinuxQuestions.

OTOH Backtrack is popular(#33 on Distrowatch, more popular than RedHat ) and much more people outside INFOSEC is using it now.
I don't think it was a bad decision to base it off of Ubuntu, quite the opposite, it helps keeping Backtrack up to date.

What I would like to see, is a separation/delimiter/barrier between Backtrack support forum and INFOSEC.
That could be just a separate forum section for Bactrack support, where all those "startx ->blank screen, update ->broke my system" should belong.
Or it could be some 30-50 questions quiz about linux in general + WEP/WPA cracking and only those members which passed can post in the sections for Pentesting.


Maybe there should be some CTF challenges with team members recruited from the forum. Also the team's reports should be openly discussed on the forum too. These could bring some new blood to the forums and raise the quality of the posts.
What do you think?


Regards

[daedalus1776]

I like the idea of having to pass a test to be able to post in a more advanced section. I'd be in on that.