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[Speaking as the de-facto leader of SoylentNews, I know this community is very sensitive to self-promotional "Slashvertising" and similar. Since our inception, we've prided ourselves on listening to our community and taking those views into account. I've walked a bit of a fine line with that with my original content articles both recently and in the past. I do not want to be a rule unto myself so if this post ends up crossing that line, mention it in the comments and we'll take those lessons to heart. Also, we haven't had a community roundtable here at SN in quite a long time, so I'm going to schedule one go to live on Monday.]
[NB: Yes, "original content" articles are welcome here. If anyone is considering it, please try to keep them tech-related and provide supporting links. Also provide contact info (email address) so any issues or questions can be discussed as needed. --martyb]
The simple fact is that in the last few weeks, the world, especially in the United States has become a very different place. Here in New York City, there's been constant protests and escalation between the police and protesters. In an era where drones are being used to track and monitor protesters, digital security is more important more than ever. I want to do my bit on trying to help people keep themselves safe and secure in these times.
Normally, I try not to push self-promotion here, and I've made sure that my recent original content articles are not pushing that line. I mentioned in my last article that I host a weekly hacking show called HACK-ALT-NCOMMANDER, as part of DEFCON 201, the local DEF CON group for the New Jersey area. Usually, I cover some bit of retro-tech, random reverse engineering, and other random and strange things. Not today.
This time, I've decided to cover these topics:
- email security
- a quick primer on GnuPG and S/MIME
- understanding Tor
- basic OPSEC (using Windows as a base)
I'll also be fielding questions in real-time. If you're interested, please tune in at 8PM Eastern Daylight Time (24:00 UTC) to the DEFCON 201 video streams (see links below). I may also cover aspects of securing systems for IT administrators depending on how chat directs me.
73 de NCommander, hoping that you're all safe
(Score: 5, Interesting) by richtopia on Wednesday June 03 2020, @10:51PM (4 children)
I appreciate your dilemma here. And I'm unsure what to recommend. I think plugging your blog/stream is a promotion of independent journalism, and I appreciate NCommander's post here. However, you could imagine more of a grey story where you promote your blog/stream which is a revenue source. My first reaction to a monetized blog is also acceptable, given the topic is relevant to the audience. Lastly, what if you were promoting a product, like NCommander's pre-configured virtual machines for old operating systems. Assuming that the sales are legit, I still would consider it a grey area, assuming the product is relevant to the SN audience.
I'm not really proposing answers here, but rather I'm attempting to facilitate some dialogue. Here are some rules of thumb I would provide:
1. Say no to product placement. Even if it is tech-related, I would keep the precedent as no products. Maybe an exception for non-profit stuff
2. Permit links to blogs/vlogs. I really like the summary from the SN front page, but for archival purposes it is a good idea to maintain your own blog or post to a site like YouTube
3. Use seinority/activity as a judgement call. This depends on the editors, but if you are debating if a post is valid, I would say yes to active community members
Any other opinions?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by NCommander on Wednesday June 03 2020, @10:58PM (2 children)
We've (DEFCON 201) raised money for COVID-19 research, but our fundraiser just ended. Speaking from my seat in SoylentNews PBC's board of directors, we bring in subscribers to keep the lights on as best we can but we don't have "promoted content" in the sense that we accept money to run articles. The concept was discussed here a few times and the community overwhelmingly said no.
We (now speaking from DC201) are just a small hacker group; no one is profiting from this aside from whatever ads are being placed by Twitch/YouTube/etc but we don't see a cent of that.
Still always moving
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @11:13PM (1 child)
Can you release a recording of the talk? I can spare a few mins here and there for commentary here but won't be able to watch the full live stream.
As for promotional stuff, maybe a separate section on SN with a sidebar box "Promotional Journals" or something with a "last updated" date instead of a list of items? Or just like the journal section but below? I think it would be interesting to have a community bazaar.
(Score: 4, Informative) by NCommander on Wednesday June 03 2020, @11:16PM
The talk automatically gets exported as a VoD on Twitch and uploaded to the DEFCON 201 YouTube page. It won't be edited. My previous shows usually go for several hours.
Still always moving
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday June 05 2020, @07:00PM
Nicely said, especially #3. One can take into account whether it is a long term contributor to discussion versus someone who just registered an account to try and get quick promotion for their ideas and then leave.
This sig for rent.