Comments on: Has SBN Stopped Being Useful?

By: Corrine

Corrine — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:20:14 +0000

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.

By: Andrew Yeomans

Andrew Yeomans — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:11:03 +0000

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.

By: Gotlieb Got-Security

Gotlieb Got-Security — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:00:36 +0000

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.

By: Anton Chuvakin

Anton Chuvakin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:39:02 +0000

>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…

By: Nightime

Nightime — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:44:59 +0000

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…

By: NotStillSecure

NotStillSecure — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:44:23 +0000

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'.
.

By: Sam Van Ryder

Sam Van Ryder — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:42:19 +0000

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.

By: LonerVamp

LonerVamp — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:07:06 +0000

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.

By: kurt wismer

kurt wismer — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:43:39 +0000

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.