If there ever was a time for Null Byte to need people to contribute, it's now. Let's make Null Byte a place where anyone, from novice to master computer user, come and learn. It has been sometime since the last "Call to Arms" for Null Byte, and even longer since the last "Weekend Homework". We all know that this time of year is busy for everyone, but that didn't stop occupytheweb otw from creating a great article in his continuing "Hack Like a Pro" series.
Without members like Bird andBear helping out in the forums, Null Byte may have died. But no, we are still alive and kicking. If you have just been sitting there watching this blog and not really contributing, now is your chance.
Are you still interested in contributing? Yes? Then get to it! Let's get it started.
What to Contribute
Not everything on Null Byte has to be about hacking or the likes. Those that have no experience in hacking can try writing some articles on the following topics.
- Intro to C++ — C++ is a great language and it's not as hard as you would think. If you already know a language, learning another is even easier!
- Make a Game — Have a little fun while writing for us. Make a fun little game in a language of your choice. It doesn't have to be complex, just something that's fun. Need ideas? Message me and I will share a few of mine.
- Intro to PHP — PHP is one of the major backbones of the wonderful thing known as the Internet. If you know it, can you help others learn PHP by making a tutorial?
Want to hack? Want to teach the community how to hack? Well, try one of these articles.
- Break into a WPA or WEP — We know you can do it, and it may be a challenge, but hey... it can be fun, too. So, what are you waiting for?
- Advanced Packet Capture — We already have a basic one going around that uses Wireshark, but that is basic and we know that there's more. Teach us.
- DDOS-ing — Give us an overview into what DDOS is, as it is thrown around the Web all of the time; ways of preventing it, etc.
- Aircrack-ng — Have you ever used it? Think you can handle this? Well, try it. It's a great tool for all pentesters and most Linux users in general.
Why Am I Doing This?
Well, I am no Allen Freeman or Alex Long, but I don't want to see Null Byte die. As it stands today, we are losing traffic at an unreasonable rate. Why, you may ask? Well, this is because we don't have people participating, writing articles. If you have a question, don't be afraid to ask it. We are here to help.
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19 Comments
If I understood this article correctly, Null Byte is a place for people who dig tech to come and learn about it but there aren't enough people onboard to keep it alive for much longer? If so, I love the idea that a person like me who wants very badly to understand everything from computers to home theater, could come here to learn all about it. However I find a lot of these places on the internet, only to be disappointed when I realize that I don't know enough to take advantage and that it's really not set up for a beginner like myself to learn anything. If I have it all wrong I apologize.
Yes you are correct in saying that this article is to bring more people to the tech community. We are different from most blogs / sites like this because we range from topics and we do have some beginner post about how to help. We will help you take advantage of the tools we provide and give you the ability to learn how you can do it on your own while helping others by posting to the Community Corkboard. If you have any questions about anything just post it in our forums and there anyone can help you. You may not know it but when I first came to Null-Byte I was a big Linux noob, but now well I would say I am not a high level Linux Master but a moderately informed Student on his way to becoming an IT professional. I always asked questions even to the ones that were very simple for someone but difficult for others.
TL;DR
Yes and no, we are here to help everyone of all levels of computer users (Old Grandparents - aspiring Master Black Hat hackers).
I wish to be a master black hat hacker :(. As i was looking around i saw a tutorial on how to exploit and gain access on Windows XP, however there has yet to be much on things vista, 7, or even any Linux operating system. I am no pro but understand c++, Aircrack, Wireshark and much more. I enjoy some of the knowledge given in the articles i have read. Any chance there will ever be more guides?
Well hopefully OTW will continue to write those tuts for us, I plan on writing more as I learn more but if you want you can even help write, just go to our Corkboard and hit "Write a post" and start righting.
You can notice the 4,000 views of this post and 3 comments as a bit of an issue. Maybe there could be a poll taken to see what those 4,000+ other people are looking for/what would get them to contribute.
I am personally in the very beginner stage, same as Peter up there. I am working through Learning Python and not just skimming through, I am going through thoroughly and taking notes, etc. This book starts at a beginner level and works up through higher level concepts with Python 3.2. I'd love to share my notes with everyone as I go through the book it could be nice for people that maybe get turned away from engaging on the website because the technical level is over their heads.
The New Boston has a solid 200 videos on PHP as well: http://thenewboston.org/list.php?cat=11
I dunno like I said it's pretty apparent there are many people visiting the website yet not many posting/joining, if we can figure out a way (start some polls?) to see what all these viewers are looking for we could maybe start building some content that appeals to these masses visiting. I mean where is most of the traffic of the website coming from? Personally I just landed here from StumbleUpon like the website and figured I'd join and give it a shot
Thanks for the specific mention, I do take it to heart.
I said it a while back and I'm not really in a much better situation now but I'll say it again anyways.. I really do mean to write something. I find it hard to find time but also I have the issue where I don't want to link my own online pseudoidentities which means I can't recycle information. I want to give you things I have already written, because I write about what I know, but I can't give you what I have done for elsewhere. Which means I must give new information. Which means I must write about information I may not have even learned yet. I'm sure you can see the issue here.
Regardless, I will try to write something. I give no timeline.
I'd like to contribute but unfortunately I don't have much knowledge in anything mentioned in this article, but I think I could write articles on the very basic tools like ophcrack or simple exploits using windows cmd, would these be of any use?
Sure would. I for one don't know much about either of those things you said.
Added a new article on the corkboard, hope you like it and I'd appreciate some feedback as it's the first I've written.
If you want to contribute, ask questions. I might not be too knowledgable about black hat operation and technomancery, but I do ask question to get more information for beginners like me and the community. In this way, I feel that I am doing something.
And asking questions is the right step in learning. From your questions others learn as you do. I always learn more from the questions I ask and the questions that people ask me.
true that!
i am intrested on learning to program but sadly i cant find good articles about it :( can someone post one i want to lear the basic so i know the right driection. Everything in the section 'What to Contribute' is what I want to learn ive been searching but no good this would be a big help. Nullbyte
Well we have a few people working on some articles, we have a Python article going on the corkboard, we have a basic intro into java in one of the blog post somewhere and a few more post going on by other members of the community. It all really depends on what you want to learn first. If you don't know a P.Lang maybe you could start a collab game with some one or a group of someones in the forums (lang, story line, how the framework is, etc...)
Wow, I missed a huge conversation! Well, I guess I will give my 2 cents...I love to contribute, but I am bit of a megalomania, so a while back I just decided that I would make my own "world". I realize how difficult it is to write high quality articles. Sometimes I will pump out like 3 articles a week, but typically I only get around to one once every two weeks or so. Also, I find that most people on this site are beginners, so it's hard to find a balance between usefulness, difficulty and entertainment. If you write something too complicated and most people don't really read it, but make it too much like a hacker tabloid and you will get a lot of views, but honestly that stuff is never that useful. I too feel like a beginner a lot of the times just because the subject of computers stems so broad and deeply in every direction that it's a bit daunting at times, but I now write articles to learn stuff for myself that I am interested in or share knowledge on things I know well and like writing about, that usually works pretty good? An effective way for getting many people to contribute? Not really sure...usually it just ends up like a high school group project where a select few do everything and everyone else just watches from a distance?
If no one has begun writing a Beginners C++ article I will..Is there a template for the articles or a list of topics that should be covered or will I just create the article and we go from there?
Everyone has their own different style of programming and writing. There is no real template for articles. I don't think anyone has written a C++ article to date but that shouldn't stop you.
I've been coding assembler, c, c++ and several other languages since 1997. I'd like to help out with questions about c/c++/c# where I can. If I see a burning need in a question I could produce article-like replies. In a past life I wrote dozens of tutorials and how-tos for The Visual Basic Programmer's Journal.
Looking back to Null Byte's story and all its historical members, this was really worth it.
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