Are Members Being Objective Enough When Discussing Products?

I agree with the statement, there should be no a priori need to effectively provide "safe harbor" qualifications to every communication one writes on these sites. Readers should, as a matter of course, engage some level of personal assessment is weighing anyone's statements.

I see this point mentioned on occasion here and elsewhere. Pragmatically speaking, it is a negligible risk, in fact, it might not even rise to negligible. A vanishingly small and approaching zero risk might be a better characterization.

Blue

 

I think disclosing security setup is not really enough for a bad guy to damage you. They need to know where you are... your IP, e-mail... and even in this case, further step are needed to trap you... unless we talk about national security or movie style hackers.

But then why attacking a simple users? There is little benefit or money involved.... IMO, just a waste of time.

Cheers,
Fax

 

Hi besafe:

Herbalist made the same point re "advertising" the security setup although neither he nor * used the word "advertise".

Blue has indicated it is negligible risk and he is no doubt right the risk is very small. But in the world today, why take any avoidable risk? We filter out 99% of the parasites yet worry about the 1%! So why help the bad guys? *'* leaving mine out except for the h/w FW's.

The reason for asking for the OS and Security set up and for months * showed mine, was so others could see what I use day to day and know that my posts were based on usage not just opinions.

My goal here was NOT to try eliminate the natural bias we all have since it is impossible, but to find indicators in posts to detect undesirable bias or "fanisim" call it what you will.

For example if a poster is advising on Vista or Linux for or against yet has not used these products.... then what is so strange about wanting to know that?

Since the general thrust in this thread is running counter to ** bias * will move on now to other fishing holes * am NOT in fact I'm

Good thread TypicallyOffbeat, good chat, current awareness raised for posters and readers of the thread. But over time, the medication will wear off!

But for me I go away a bit frustrated. I feel that for all my future posts I will
have to declare my usage/bias up front in posts. This is my own need and should not be seen as saying everybody else should do it.

Sample Post in reply to a sample question:

Poster X " What do you guys think of Paragon Drive Back up ?

Sample Escalader Reply:

Hi X:

Just so you know I use it. I'm on XP sp2 are you using it or considering it?
Is there a specific question?

Reply from X Tks I'm using ATI and am having trouble with it!

Reply from escalader, Oh sorry I don't use ATI best to ask about that in that forum, didn't realize your issue was ATI!

reply from X, oh sorry I have decided to switch from ATI and wanted advice or help on Paragon


Reply from escalader: The PDB 8.5 product is very powerful with a fair learning curve, less IMO if you are moving from ATI an imaging product.

What I suggest you do is get it on trial for 30 days or so load it on to a test PC and work it out. Then if you find it does what you want move to your own main PC.

Hope that helps!

 

If someone wants to find you bad enough, they can. Unless you do everything thru a proxy, your IP isn't that hard to find. Why would someone do that? Why did users of Blue Frog get targeted with high spam volumes? The spammer also threatened to turn every installation of Blue Frog into a spamming tool. That's a threat of direct attack on the users PC. All you have to do is make someone mad. Helping someone remove a keylogger put there by an ex boyfriend or girlfriend can accomplish that. If you're in any way on the front lines in the war against malware, you're a target. As for the monetary value of a single PC, they all have value. Each of those single PCs is what makes a botnet valuable to its owner. The more PCs, the more valuable the botnet. What's the value of the individual e-mail addys your PC holds? The passwords it contains? If individual PCs were of no value, no one would write malware designed to compromise them. Besides, not all attackers are pros. There's still plenty of script kiddies who would love to brag "look who I hacked!"

This is really getting pointless. Posting your security setup does nothing to prove that the material you post is objective. Any such requirement would be unenforceable. Any disclosure made is unproveable. You can't take out all the pronouns like I, me, you, etc from posts either. When someone asks a question, are they supposed to say How does the owner of this PC do this? instead of How do I do this? There's no real way to regulate the quality of posted material by methods like these.
Rick

 

Which is why being an attentive and discriminating reader, taking the time to understand what you read and the rationale behind it (be it technical, personal, or a mix of the two), and trying not to overreach your current level of understanding is key. It is key in offering advice and it is key to using the advice of others.

Blue

 

Hi Rick:

You are right! It is getting pointless. I just want to know that you say have MS 98 before paying any attention to your post on that. It doesn't prove your post is objective but at least I have reduced the chance that all you use is DOS

The removal of pronouns was another one of my ideas NOT aimed at improving quality of posts but trying to reduce quick on the draw posts when I get ticked off by a post. It's not a very good idea but I was trying to think of ways to take the heat out of such posts!

But I should shut up, since I promised I would leave this thread. It's over

 

No need to shut up, your contribution has been constructive, and I appreciate that. Even though I think your specific suggestions are impractical and probably wouldn't have any significant effect on reducing bias, that doesn't mean they are worthless. Contributing ideas and putting forth suggestions, especially ones as creative as yours, helps maintain a level of openness in everyone's thinking. Any constructive contribution helps sustain this thread and the effort behind it, so I thank you and everyone else for that. While I'm still open to any and all suggestions for mitigating this problem, it would seem that the only ones that are practical and potentially effective are those that have been suggested already, namely limited formal regulation and the two aspects of self-regulation.

 

Guess I registered on this forum too late? Oh well, I was always behind on technological advances anyway. I bought a video tape recorder many years after betamax and VHS became the videotape standards. I got a 486 computer after Pentiums became state of the art and a Pentium II after Pentium III became state of the art. I am still stuck on Pentium II computers and am not using any dual core microprocessor technology.

 

Yes and No... I repeat the concept, only posting here its not enough for a bad guy to reach you. You need far more information than a post here...

You need an IP and unless you are a Mod or Admin you can't get it here... you need to crack the forum or trying cracking the user password, or find a non disclosed vulnerability within the forum. Not easy again... and unless the user has a stu*id password you can spend the rest of your life guessing passwords...

Even with an IP not much can be done... its enough a router doing NAT. Also home users are often on dynamic IPs, so IP will change. Too much efforts for nothing and this is not a job for script kiddies....

But of course I agree that posting your setup does not make you objective but its still better than nothing.... considering that other measures are not possible.

Cheers,
Fax

 

Hi, folks: IMO. Posting your own security setups here is a BIG plus for readers to understand what you are and where you come from(in terms of credentials ans experiences). Often in forum, posters who give healthy-apparent advices do not even use nor test a given program, just simply giving a wild guess or worse than that, a pointless criticism. Also it is a personal choice whether or not to post such info. No pending security risks will be anticipated, at least in here Wilders.

 

Hello,

Writing down your setup as a guideline to security is like saying your diet x y z will do good to a stranger. Setups do not matter. Strategies do.

User will benefit far more from members writing down strategies and reasoning for using x y z than simply using x y z. This way, people will not only benefit from exposure to products, but thinking and experience as well, plus they will get an insight into different tactics that cover different scenarios.

Mrk