New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

[Metatron]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

I voted iso on the net but would prefer tar. i would not trust a USB... This is defcon after all. Same with a cd. It would instantly hit the trash.

Also, when traveling, I am usually working off a tablet or phone w/o cdrom or usb, but with 3g/4g and a shell.

If you can't/don't trust the media files comes on, why would you trust that content on your computer?

Really if its official Defcon merchandise I don't really see the issue.

[Nikita]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

So what happens when a company doesn't want their employee to do a talk because it may tarnish the reputation of the company :) (sorry just playing devil's advocate)

They usually back out early on, before you ever get word of it, or it turns into a "situation" but Normally the speaker either pulls out before it's a big deal or they change their content. This is not uncommon. A lot of the time the company just settles with the speaker removing all affiliation from their talk abstract/bio/etc.


Also, the case of the USB sticks....This is spendy, more than you think. We have to order 8k of them, custom design them, AND get them pre populated with what would normally be the Defcon CD contents. This would have to be done sooner than the CD's production timeline as well. Meaning we'd have to push the deadline for materials UP. Up as in WAY earlier than we request now at one month ahead. It may seem a piece of cake to you to just pop in a drive and upload the contents, but were talking 8,000 drives....We are already talking over the option of burning the CD's ourselves in house now, to shed off 2 weeks from the deadline of materials. Time consuming projects, for your benefit. :-) I am in favor of an ISO off the DEF CON site if people support it, because it saves us a lot of time, and a lot of money. I bet that money could be spent on adding a new cool thing to the con.

As for sponsoring them...yeah I don't think that DT will ever let a sponsor in the door like that, on something that is so critical for the attendees. We'd be hypocrites to let Coke buy it's way into the con, but not Pepsi? Do you REALLY want your DEF CON badge brought to you by Carl's Jr.? I see how thinking that an energy drink would be ok, but by having a sponsor we'd be saying that redbull is better than monster...what if they don't want us to serve monster? That will piss some people off. We are not a combination pizza hut and Taco bell, we are a sec con aligning ourselves with the freedom of information and the ability to choose. It's too testy waters right now, I don't know maybe in the future DT will find a sponsor he likes that allows us the freedom and doesn't imply that they are running the show and he goes with it, you never know what the future will bring.

[Nikita]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

That said, there's never been a problem with out-of-date data that I've heard of, so this could be a null point.

Each media type will have some drawbacks.

About 80% of the slides on the CD are out-of-date, and they are weak barebones representations of the real deal. All the current and complete slides are available on the Defcon site after the show. That is one of the complaints about the CD and putting it together.

[theprez98]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

That said, there's never been a problem with out-of-date data that I've heard of, so this could be a null point.

About 80% of the slides on the CD are out-of-date...

Like mine, for example. Even though my slides are probably closer to being a finished product that most, they're already out of date.

[lexxmac]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

The CDs [probably] cost less than a $1, even with a spiffy jewel case. A custom flash drive would probably cost a minimum of $5, if not more like $10-12. That of course is assuming you got a decent deal because of quantity. Even with that conservative price estimate, that would cost the con or a sponsor $40,000-$100,000. That's not chump change.

CDs in quantity are pressed and the data is added to them as part of the manufacturing process. Flash drives could be programmed during manufacturing, but that would probably add even more to the cost.

I voted for the CD because I think having something tangible would be nice and it is far more cost effective.

[Xeon]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

About 80% of the slides on the CD are out-of-date, and they are weak barebones representations of the real deal. All the current and complete slides are available on the Defcon site after the show. That is one of the complaints about the CD and putting it together.

I worded that part poorly.

What I meant was not that there was not out of date data, but that I am unaware of any major problems being caused by the outdated data.

[Nikita]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

I worded that part poorly.

What I meant was not that there was not out of date data, but that I am unaware of any major problems being caused by the outdated data.

Sadly again I have to point out that we have had those problems too. We had to reburn all of the BH DC CD's one night because of Chris Pagets HID material. We had a slight controversy near miss over the mass transit presentation of DC17 which was gagged and replaced. Thankfully they didn't press the issue, but they very well could have. Who knows when the next C&D could fuck the CD.

Oh, and I'm not trying to pick on you, just think that if you didn't know, you might like to. :-)
But all that depressing negative talk doesn't change the fact that we try to avoid putting ourselves in that position now if something smells of lawsuit. We have been lucky.

[Xeon]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

<snip>...Oh, and I'm not trying to pick on you, just think that if you didn't know, you might like to. :-)...<snip>

I don't feel picked on at all. My statement was very much leaving an open end for someone to mention these problems. I'm glad you did. Knowing about these issues is definitely part of choosing a media format.

[astcell]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

Where's the button for 8" floppies?

[Dark Tangent]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

Where's the button for 8" floppies?

It's right under the one for punch cards and above the mag stripe.

The money you would save in NOT doing USB sticks you could buy enough 12 drive CD/DVD dupers and produce the CDs on demand the day before con and still have money left over.

[Nikita]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

It's right under the one for punch cards and above the mag stripe.

The money you would save in NOT doing USB sticks you could buy enough 12 drive CD/DVD dupers and produce the CDs on demand the day before con and still have money left over.

Why the hell can't we have a "Like" Button on the forums. I would so click it.

[TheCotMan]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

Why the hell can't we have a "Like" Button on the forums. I would so click it.

The forums have a user rating system, but we don't have it enabled:
1) We would not use the data provided by it to take automatic actions.
2) It would become a popularity contest and would probably encourage scene whoring or stupid high school social drama more than we have now.
3) Prejudice being what it is, once someone earned a low enough score, a "mob mentality" would probably appear with non-mods harassing the low-scoring user because of the low score, returning us to the flame-fest the forums once were.

I think there were plans (discussed) to support user rating of posts, so users can set a threshold and skip posts not +rated enough to meet their threshold (like slashdot) but that is also a bad idea for a "hacker forum" because we would end up with too many users +rating the latest "OMG Defcon is teh cancelled" link using a URL shortener that takes the viewer to a youtube video of LOL-cats, or pictures like goatse that have made their rounds.

Any mod that wants to revisit these feature can bring it up with the other mods any time they want, but I doubt they will -- these features have been discussed several times.

Maybe you were just commenting about his post, and not really asking for this feature. If that is the case: Ignore this: Move along. Nothing to see here.

[HighWiz]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

Why the hell can't we have a "Like" Button on the forums. I would so click it.

Because the "Like" button gets people in trouble...

[Nikita]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

[QUOTE=TheCotMan;115074
Maybe you were just commenting about his post, and not really asking for this feature. If that is the case: Ignore this: Move along. Nothing to see here.[/QUOTE]

Yeah....I'm walking fast...very very fast away from this, I'm blind, I see NOTHING. /me prays this never really becomes a feature ever.

[Nikita]

Re: New poll: What format would you like for your DefCon media?

Because the "Like" button gets people in trouble...

I'd click to like like you highwiz.