Has SBN Stopped Being Useful?
I think that the Security Bloggers Network (SBN) is amazing, so please don't misinterpret this post... I've provided the domain for the website and host a mailing list (although it was infrequently used even during the 2 months when people used it). Yet I have to wonder if it is perhaps becoming a little too large and if it requires a filter.
I know there have been debates in the past over whether or not SBN was full of noise and you can't really debate that... but it's full of noise in the way that twitter is full of noise... most of the noise is useful.
Let's take a look at the BrickHouse Security blog... first it should be stated that BrickHouse is an online storefront selling GPS Trackers, Spy Equipment, etc. Now let's look at some of their recent blog posts...
Taconic Car Accident Tragedy Could Have Been Avoided with Technology- For anyone who hasn't read it, or can't guess from the title... it's a blog post about a woman dying in a car accident... at least the first two paragraphs are. The second two? A write-up on how if she'd had a GPS Tracker in her car, she'd still be alive... Wait! What does BrickHouse sell again? Oh yeah... GPS Trackers. <-- I hope other people's stomachs turned... because mine sure did.
How about this post, spread FUD explaining bump keys (first thought: "Wait.. hasn't this been discussed everywhere for a couple years now, why bring this up now?"). Then I reached the last two paragraphs that contained the solution to bump keys... Biometric Locks -- Conventiently sold by BrickHouse Security (including a link to them)... with the following text:
These tools are the first step towards having a secure home and for thwarting the steps criminals take to get around security measures. As long as homeowners are smart and realize the technology that is at their disposal, the bogeyman will fade away.
I see... they can protect me. After all, we've never, NEVER, never seen biometrics bypassed!
I honestly don't see any value add from blogs like this being included with in SBN.
i think the question needs to be asked, what exactly are you expecting SBN to do and how are you trying to use it?
i think it probably serves as a wonderful showcase for security blogs, but i would never actually subscribe to the SBN feed – rather i would subscribe to individual blogs from within the security bloggers network. tastes in blogs are too individual for a one-size-fits-all feed.
I'm of a similar mind, I wouldn't ever subscribe to SBN in my reader, and likewise never put my own blog in there.
A huge part of it is in the taking away of my ability to filter exactly that stuff. It can be great to browse through and find new blogs which I can individually add to my feed list. But there's just too much stuff and too many blogs I wouldn't subscribe to that get packaged into that one massive feed.
I've thought about signing my blog up in the past, but I do plenty of off-topic and ranting-style posts that I felt I'd just be part of the noise. Or at the very least I'd feel some sort of externally-fueled obligation to stay on topic. Not that I don't, but…eh, ramble.
I had thought the intent of the SBN was to have a collection of security-centric blogs in one place and not necessarily corporate blogs. Maybe the solution would be to have a corporate blogs-focused SBN?
That being said, it's kind of hard to differentiate at times. E.g. Shimel's blog does at times mention his company's products, but for the most part it's about plenty of other stuff. Having a blog just to pimp your company doesn't seem very effective – I would think doing PR's and using a Twitter account to point to them would be enough.
I have always been left scratching my head wondering why FOREIGN LANGUAGE blogs were permitted in the SBN. A total waste of my time each time I see Chinese text and characters cluttering up the RSS feed of SBN. Ditto for the ones the show up in French… It's an english RSS feed… keep it that way.
The bigger problem is with the whoring blogs that are being used solely for self-promotion. Some folks think that their RSS feed is a great way to 'advertise'. It is not. It is an irritant each time I see a self-promotion dressing up as some kind of 'security information'.
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Possibly the death of the SBN will come along as it self-inflicts itself to death. There is a trend of the web sites associated with the SBN to provide a slew of hotlinks to their 'fellow' SBN web sites on their blog sites. This is something like cousins having sex with cousins. In the world of Google this cross linking is actually injurious to the standing or 'search engine weighting' of those blogs that do this blatant self-pollination and cross-hyerlinking.
From what I have seen, certain principles involved in the SBN have employed strategies to try to gain for themselves a higher ranking in Google through the manipulation of the folks who sign on to join the SBN. ( and be clear that Computer Defense is NOT one of those sheep manipulators ). But I have noticed this disturbing trend of how certain principles have become subverted and in turn taken to subverting the good intentions of SBN for their own glorification and search engine ranking.
SBN = good
SBN manipulators = bad
Conclusion… keep at it but clean things up…
>if it requires a filter
Are you insane?
It required a filter for about 2 years already…
I removed the main network feed from my RSS reader so long ago I don't even remember that it ever happened…
Anton is cool and right. He produces a high quality blog that is informative, timely and always entertaining. The SBN has become an attempt at empire building. I withdrew my RSS feed last year because StillSecure was acting like he was the king and we were merely slaves working for him.
It might be fun to put a signal-to-noise meter on the site.
Total signal can be easily measured by counting items (and possibly length), I’ve found the Google Reader blog stats good for seeing who posts too little or too much.
Noise can be measured by a “negative Digg this” style button, so we can vote on those blogs that are over-commercial or just channelling cartoons and other non-security items.
I used to check SBN but found too many non-security articles and little of interest. I tried going there today after reading this topic. The site never finished loading. It locked my computer trying to load podomatic.com. I won't bother again.