random thought...

[Shadowvex]

its late, i've done the forum and google searches and i know we're WELL beyond
the deadline for CFP... but i was just wondering... has there ever been a
proposed talk about "hacking defcon"? i understand this may be over-the-top,
but that would be all the more reason to do it... but maybe it's been proposed
already a hundred times and thus this babble is moot. but perhaps not? i'm
sure it would proove to be most interesting and at least entertaining...

i know someone's got an answer for this??? ;)

[astcell]

Re: random thought...

That's like scuba diving and the slicing your own air hose. Hahaha.

WE are Defcon, so that's like hacking ourselves. No thanks. I can crash my own computer with Windows' help just fine, I don't need your help.

[LosT]

Re: random thought...

That's like scuba diving and the slicing your own air hose. Hahaha.

WE are Defcon, so that's like hacking ourselves. No thanks. I can crash my own computer with Windows' help just fine, I don't need your help.

Ahahaha nice ASTCELL!

Technically speaking, participating in contests, events and such is 'hacking Defcon'-

LosT

[TheCotMan]

Re: random thought...

If the intent is to discuss how you were able to get away with things at Defcon, or break rules, then the information you cover will likely become obselete shortly after being stated. It is also likely to get you on a kinf od "watch" list (at least for this con) to make it even more difficult for you to get away with whatever you were getting away with before. If the things that were violated were *serious* (risk of life, harm to others, etc) I would bet some goons might want to talk to you.

If it is a presentation on observed cases of "hacking" in games, competitions, events, or "whatever" then I'm not sure how much of a draw it would have for attendees.

If you have been attending Defcon for many years, and have years of stories to tell about things you have witnessed over the years, *that* might build a crowd, but it depends on how good the stories are, and how good your story telling is.

[dYn4mic]

Re: random thought...

This isn't exactly on topic, but it is a "random thought".

There seems to be significatly LESS influx of new people to the forums and lots of bad posts and /dev/null material. While sometimes I laughed at the flames and sillyness of peoples questions and requests... I often treaded it like spam.
This year seems to be much more "in order", I can't really think of a reason for this, other than a) better/quicker rule enforcement.... b) less people joining/posting.
Thanks admin(s) (thecotman and his hall robots) for keeping it tame.

[Nikita]

Re: random thought...

has there ever been a
proposed talk about "hacking defcon"? i understand this may be over-the-top,
but that would be all the more reason to do it... but maybe it's been proposed
already a hundred times and thus this babble is moot. ........
......

i know someone's got an answer for this??? ;)

To answer your question, we have talks about defcon submitted from time to time. Here is a good one we accepted It in my opinion will be a great and tactful talk.
As far as "hacking defcon" I seem to recall rejecting at least one this year. What we look for is someone who can submit a talk with enough respect for both defcon and the quality of work they submit. We don't take it amongst ourselves to promote someone by accepting their talk if they are not going to put the effort into the work and to have the content people want to hear. So in that respect cot man is right on target with his entire response. I would like to say though when he said

If you have been attending Defcon for many years, and have years of stories to tell about things you have witnessed over the years, *that* might build a crowd, but it depends on how good the stories are, and how good your story telling is

I agree and would love to read that cfp if and when we get one, there are plenty of folks on here who have been going to dc almost since the start it would be pretty cool to have some kind of a panel where greatest hits and misses, best stories, worst attepts to minipulate a goon, best hack on defcon, best peice of hardware traded, etc etc were discussed. There is a lot of history to share and I always like hearing the stories. It would be cool idea to get DT involved in that for next year or something.

[TheCotMan]

Re: random thought...

This isn't exactly on topic, but it is a "random thought".

There seems to be significatly LESS influx of new people to the forums and lots of bad posts and /dev/null material. While sometimes I laughed at the flames and sillyness of peoples questions and requests... I often treaded it like spam.
This year seems to be much more "in order", I can't really think of a reason for this, other than a) better/quicker rule enforcement.... b) less people joining/posting.
Thanks admin(s) (thecotman and his hall robots) for keeping it tame.

This has been a group effort, with ideas from mods and registered users on how to make the forums better. We do listen... sometimes. ;-)

I don't want to discuss in public all of the things we have in place to try to deal with spam, but so far, they have been effective.

You'll notice we had a drop in active users. We just clobbered 2 year old accounts that were part of a DoS attack on the forums in 2004. This has dropped the forum user-count by around 1500 members.

We've also been eliminating account that would have otherwise been used as spam, or bogus accounts with invalid e-mail addresses in an attempt to join the forums without offering a valid e-mail address.

Converge is supposed to have an announcement real soon now, about the forums during Defcon.. I don't want to give much away, but there will probably be something about rules being less strict, and a change in what is available and how long it takes to gain access to stuff.

It would be cool idea to get DT involved in that for next year or something.

Your panel idea is a good one. Perhaps a thread can be started with suggestions of stories to tell. From a list, the best stories can be examined for telling, and allow time to grab hte people best able to tell those stories.

[Shadowvex]

Re: random thought...

To answer your question, we have talks about defcon submitted from time to time. Here is a good one we accepted It in my opinion will be a great and tactful talk.
As far as "hacking defcon" I seem to recall rejecting at least one this year. What we look for is someone who can submit a talk with enough respect for both defcon and the quality of work they submit. We don't take it amongst ourselves to promote someone by accepting their talk if they are not going to put the effort into the work and to have the content people want to hear. So in that respect cot man is right on target with his entire response. I would like to say though when he said


I agree and would love to read that cfp if and when we get one, there are plenty of folks on here who have been going to dc almost since the start it would be pretty cool to have some kind of a panel where greatest hits and misses, best stories, worst attepts to minipulate a goon, best hack on defcon, best peice of hardware traded, etc etc were discussed. There is a lot of history to share and I always like hearing the stories. It would be cool idea to get DT involved in that for next year or something.

great, and thanks for the thread... i am by NO MEANS trying to instigate anything negative by the idea... i've been attending and involved and given so much of my heart into defcon for 12 years now.. the thought was maybe to just stir things up a little and maybe even have a comedic/sarcastic tinge and definately historical references would be great! anyhow i love how people have all their one liner comments preloaded to fire off at will... we're supposed to have a broad perspective on things and your reply has been the only one so far where you actually thought about this idea having some plausibility.... and i thank you...again :)

so yeah, lets move on then.... all you bitchers post some new interesting thread that i'll be sure to fire off some negative comments about immediately! ;)

[TheCotMan]

Re: random thought...

great, and thanks for the thread... i am by NO MEANS trying to instigate anything negative by the idea... i've been attending and involved and given so much of my heart into defcon for 12 years now.. the thought was maybe to just stir things up a little and maybe even have a comedic/sarcastic tinge and definately historical references would be great! anyhow i love how people have all their one liner comments preloaded to fire off at will... we're supposed to have a broad perspective on things and your reply has been the only one so far where you actually thought about this idea having some plausibility.... and i thank you...again :)

What? Am I invisible here? *rasberries* Right!

so yeah, lets move on then.... all you bitchers post some new interesting thread that i'll be sure to fire off some negative comments about immediately! ;)

I've got a thread open for bitching about bugs in the forums right here. Feel free to join at any time. (heh -heh)