Hi guys,
We are a team of university students that are creating a website that has the aim of informing people interested in computer forensics about the processes involved when it comes to the many different parts of investigation. We are aware that there are already many websites that have this purpose so please don't try and talk us out of it. The website is not finished yet but we were looking for feedback on the quality of the content and the website itself, constructive criticism is much appreciated!
The website is www.firstforforensics.com
Many thanks guys and we look forward to any feedback you have!
Hmmm. Let's see, you come to a very popular site that you will be competing with and your first post is spam for your site. I say Plonk!
I would just like to point out this is just for a university project and will more than likely not be staying live, we are merely asking for advice on our website from people who will know what they are talking about much more than we have learnt from our one and a half years on a computer forensics course.
I would hardly consider this to be spam for our website on the basis that I have come here asking for nothing more than some constructive criticism so that we can improve the website based on the feedback you give us whilst helping us to further our knowledge on the topic at the same time.
I would just like to point out this is just for a university project and will more than likely not be staying live, we are merely asking for advice on our website from people who will know what they are talking about much more than we have learnt from our one and a half years on a computer forensics course.
A university project like Twitter was a university project? Sorry guess I misunderstood what you were trying to accomplish with your post. roll
I'm more interested in why people who have never worked in the field of computer forensics would be in a position to teach others about the field they have no practical experience with.
I understand your point, but the website is part of a team project which is not about creating something that will actually be used and more about us learning new techniques and knowledge along the way. The fact that it is a website aimed at helping people to learn forensics is just a concept we came up with that we thought would help us along with our course at the same time. This is why I came to this forum and asked for some feedback from people who have worked in the industry, have many more years experience than us and who will be able to help us, the feedback is also a requirement of our project so it would be extremely helpful if we could get some, whether it be good or bad.
I'm honestly not sure where else I should have gone to get feedback from, but perhaps if you are unwilling then you could at least recommend somewhere better I might get some?
Jeez, you guys, so much negativity.
I don't think FirstForForensics is suggesting he's going to teach seasoned examiners anything, but there's enough information out there in the wild for them to pool for their own purposes. Surely if they thought they were all brilliant, they wouldn't bother coming here to ask.
These forums are starting to become no-go areas, especially for newbies, because all the 'experts' around just rip people apart without answering the question, very unhelpful and quite frankly not a good advert for our profession.
Chaps, I haven't looked at your site, but I will do and let you know what I think.
Regards
Jon
JonN, I am curious on your position about them advertising their site here. I just find it to be bad form/inconsiderate. That is my negativity and I stand by it.
As for this forum becoming a no-go area, I disagree. While many here do not coddle the "newbies" I think a lot of people spend a lot of time posting well thought out replies. It is true that students that come here and post the same question that has been posted semester after semester will get flamed, however if they post a question along with the research they have done to answer the question they will get a good answer or get pointed in the right direction.
I think that topic has been beat to death, but apparently you disagree with the outcome of those previous posts.
The place is covered in adverts!! People have their blog sites in their signatures, there's posts about new products being released, all advertising surely.
So my position is that I couldn't care less about them 'advertising' their site, though I'm not really sure that's what they are doing. They're asking for feedback on a site they are creating anyway, whether people agree with it or not.
'No-go'? Bit strong maybe, but who has been in the slightest bit supportive of these guys' site, all anyone's done is have a go at them. Who cares if it competes with this site, a bit of competition's good isn't it, and if you don't like it, don't go to it.
I'm not supporting coddling newbies who ask silly questions, but you are suggesting good answers and pointing people in the right direction.
'Plonk' is neither.
Anyway, all too much for a Saturday morning, I'm off out in the sunshine -)
Hi guys,
We are a team of university students that are creating a website that has the aim of informing people interested in computer forensics about the processes involved when it comes to the many different parts of investigation. We are aware that there are already many websites that have this purpose so please don't try and talk us out of it. The website is not finished yet but we were looking for feedback on the quality of the content and the website itself, constructive criticism is much appreciated!
The website is www.firstforforensics.com
Many thanks guys and we look forward to any feedback you have!
First, am baffled by the negative replies! Don't let it put you off.
Before I give any feedback, the main question I have is, why (as you acknowledge, there are many resources which do similar) have you put the site together? Is it for an assignment, to publicise yourselves to potential employees, for the sheer love of it or as a check list/reminder for exams? Or what?
First, the official line for what it's worth. Strictly speaking, promotion in the forums of "any product, publication, service or other venture, regardless of whether or not it is for profit" is against the site's acceptable use policy. In practice, there are few of exceptions to that rule, primarily based around how you define "promotion" and the nature of what's being discussed.
In brief
- If someone asks for a recommendation, it's fine for a relevant vendor/developer/service provider to respond with relevant, factual details of their own product(s) - in other words it shouldn't read like a press release. The rationale being that these details are useful for the OP and other readers and likely to generate relevant input from other members on the same topic.
- If someone is developing a product, asking for beta-testers is OK. The rational here being that although there's a clear promotional benefit to the developer, beta-testing is important to all future users and we're in a position here to provide some of the most knowledgable testers available. This is something of a grey area, though, and I wouldn't want to see requests for beta-testers abused as a means of circumventing the general policy of no advertising in the forums (to date, it hasn't been).
With regard to the post and website under discussion here, although it probably would have been appropriate for the OP to run it past me first, I don't have a big problem with the request for feedback on this particular project. It's apparently educational and non-commercial (possibly not even ongoing) so I think we can afford to turn a blind eye on this occasion to any transgression of the AUP.
Further, I think the basic question of what people want from a DF community website is a good one and, frankly, there are one or two elements on this project site which serve as a reminder that there's still more we can do here at Forensic Focus (OK, for "we" read "I"!) I especially like the video tutorials covering basic aspects of the investigative process for example.
Hope that clarifies some of my own thinking on this issue.
Cheers,
Jamie
Hi guys,
First of all I'd like to apologize for not running the website past you first Jamie, but also thank you for over looking the issue and allowing the post to stay.
Thanks for the support of our site and feedback that you have given so far, in response to the question of why the website is being put together, it is purely for a university assignment. We are all on a Computer Forensic Investigation course in which one of our modules is a team project, it was recommended that we keep our project related to our course and that was something that we wanted to stick too. Whilst other teams have decided to try and program forensic tools we wanted to take a different approach and this is what we came up with, helped by the fact that we, as a team, have limited programming experience. The website is indeed purely educational.
We look forward to hearing more of your feedback and any general comments you may have.
Thanks again!
Let's set aside the "negativity" and try to be pragmatical.
- What is the "scope" of the site?
- Is this scope easily perceivable by the casual onlooker?
- Is this a "serious" commitment or just a way to fulfill an assignment?
On first sight, it seems to me like the site does not in any way reflect the scope that is declared here, it seems a lot like "long time experts" attempting to teach to "complete newbies".
I.e. it seems to me like a "mockup" of what could be a "real" digital forensics "divulgation" site as it will be written/created once the actual Authors will have the experience.
Right now the impression is that the Authors have already enough experience on the topics and that there is a wish to share it, but when some time in spent in actually reading the contents, it is clear (no offence intended whatsoever ) ) that everything is very, very "light" or "thin", the generic talk about cases
http//www.firstforforensics.com/investigation/famous-forensic-cases/
is something that could be result of a class assignment like "Talk about three cases that you remember" (before the teacher corrections on grammar/syntax)
Without computer forensics existence, Dennis Rader many have possibly gone on to kill 10’s if not 100’s of other innocent people and with the police and attorney’s in agreement, it was decided there was enough evidence to suggest Dennis was guilty of serial killing and was sentenced behind bars indefinitely.
i.e.
If someone would have not stopped him, he would have continued.
😯
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_la_Palice#Lapalissade
There are more than a few typos scattered here and there
http//www.firstforforensics.com/preparation/rescources/
Rescources being the most prominent, but also the actual English (said from a non-native English speaker roll ) has more than one issue (I would call it "appalling", but probably I am not qualified enough to do so)
We have used expert knowledge and experience to craft some documents that may be useful to the new forensics examiner in the field, download them and take them into the field with them feel free to iplaod your own documents that you think people will benefit from in the forums our moderators will check them and feature them on this page.
I know I probably sound like an old grumpy b*****d (basically because I am an old grumpy b*****d wink ) but I find that someone not careful enough to check spelling and proofread for syntax/grammar rarely possesses the "right" kind of accurateness to do forensic work, let alone teach others how to do that.
In any case, spending some time to remove these minor glitches should not be a problem, as well as making more clear the actual level of experience of the Authors (i.e. tone it down a little when experience is mentioned), but what really is not clear to me is the "destiny" of the site.
How long do you plan to keep it alive?
Just until you get a good grade for the assignment?
If yes, you are not doing a service to the community, you are simply temporarily distracting resources/attention from "established" sites and your and whatever "third party" contributions will be wasted or forgotten/lost in a short span of time.
If no, then are you (either you personally or the team as a whole) driven by the passion for this field?
Are you willing to keep up with the site even once you will be past your studies?
?
jaclaz
It quickly became apparent to us that there was little information available for trainee investigators and people with an interest in computer forensics but no previous industry or educational experience with regards to conducting an investigation……
To combat this problem and fill this gap in the market, First For Forensics has been created.
Is this marketing guff or did you not bother to look at what's available.
Also, I'm pretty sure that F3 (First Forensic Forum) would have a problem with the name you are using.
Patrick, it's the Vogue thing to do.
I'm more interested in why people who have never worked in the field of computer forensics would be in a position to teach others about the field they have no practical experience with.