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Exchange the techniques and skills needed to walk the shadows. Post your guides and how-tos here.
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Shadow Scout
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Post by Shadow Scout » Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:45 am

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Xanatos
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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Xanatos » Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:02 am

I had the idea of writing one, but I'd really want a better camera to illustrate various stealth concepts. And good cameras are expensive.
We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each lies an irreparable truth.
What is locked, can be opened. What is hidden, can be found. What is yours... can be mine.

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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Shadow Scout » Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:09 am

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Sicarius
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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Sicarius » Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:47 am

Shadow Scout, we are skipping steps. Books are great, but we kind of need a base. You also have to consider PERSEC and how well the book would sell, nobody wants to make a deficit and at the same time I do not want to charge people for almost all of what I make. Online stuff is just more secure, and in my opinion would be read more. And then of course, we cannot write a book if we are scattered on a subject. While I like the idea of a physical book, I think online content would be better, or something printable like a PDF. Maybe one day a book can be made though, and I am guessing you would prefer a book for your network of Shadow Scouts to use in an offline or SHTF scenario? If so, maybe when a PDF is made a dull version(all white) can be released for printing.
"If one cannot be both, it is much better to be feared than loved" - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

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Sicarius
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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Sicarius » Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:16 pm

Shadow Scout wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:09 am
The cameras on modern smartphones should be more than good enough. Just get the lighting right and you're fine.
I hate using smartphones, but with good lighting and some camera mods and apps they would work rather well.
"If one cannot be both, it is much better to be feared than loved" - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Shadow Scout
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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Shadow Scout » Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:47 pm

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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Sicarius » Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:12 pm

First and foremost, I want this information to be mostly free. If I one day have the skills of A Splinter Cell, I may charge money for some members to come to shoot with me and learn advanced firearm tactical solely related to nightops and "stealth" type operations. Other than that, pretty much everything would be for free. I love what I do and want to share it with others, and emotions aside, even crypto can leave a trail.

I understand what you are saying, but the base needs a base. What is the best method of crouching, for example? Is the bear crawl a useful transitional movement? How about low outline techniques to cross obstacles, such as fences? We have to make that, then make a book. I would feel bad making a book and then telling someone, "Oh yeah, those techniques are outdated now, we tested stuff". I suggested making a, singular, new PDF.

And this is not just directed at you, but nobody seems to be doing anything. I can be 75% positive when I say I think I am putting in the most effort. Psychlonic is an old member who did his part and is studying other topics, and is like a father figure and wrote WOTS. Xanatos could have written more perhaps, but instead he did the most dares(I think?), wrote stories, filmed operations, and most important of all; carried the forum 11 years, replying to almost every post. Us new members are not doing much... at all. You have a blog, so I suppose that counts as an excuse/reason. What about everyone else? I am sure they have some reasons, job, personal life, etc, but an hour a week? You could write articles, reviews, stories, ideas. You could try new movements, try new security tools, or make videos. I am positive everyone has an hour a week. And if you do not, well, meditate and develop your mind. Make time by being more productive, if you have a goal, do it. I do not want a load of praise or recognition for doing something(fine, maybe a little), but honestly...

Note that "you" does not refer to you, Shadow Scout(unless the sentence is in relation to you), just anyone reading.
"If one cannot be both, it is much better to be feared than loved" - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Psychlonic » Thu Apr 01, 2021 2:39 am

Sicarius wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:12 pm
I would feel bad making a book and then telling someone, "Oh yeah, those techniques are outdated now, we tested stuff".
This is my biggest issue and why I tend to fall out of discussions. Experience is the best asset. In my mind the single biggest testament to that was NOPCON when all of us independent operators got together and noticed that we all share many core techniques that simply emerge naturally. It's one thing to pore over all the available information out there and compile what's seemingly the best and another entirely to have used it in the field. When a debate flares up over something that's already been tested in the field, I mentally go "Fuck it, go get caught." This is mostly in regards to stealth but other aspects as well.

I'll admit, when I wrote WotS I was no alarm expert and many of my more technical security bypass skills were lacking or not there at all. Many of the techniques in there are garbage or apply to systems that nobody uses anymore. I honestly should make a 3.0 revision that simply cuts that bullshit out of there. Point is, it all sounded good on paper back then when I was looking for ways to enhance my operations and as I got better, actually went up against higher security facilities, actually learned alarms inside and out, I realized that most of the content online is an echo chamber of fake shit. You can't just use what sounds good and throw it into a book regardless of who supposedly uses it or says it's awesome.

Honestly can't remember if I included it (probably!) but a great example is dealing with motion sensors by slowly moving a small panel across it using a clock or other mechanical rotating device. No! That's garbage and yet it's still common in crapbooks as a way to deal with those obstacles. IIRC, supposedly SF and Rangers use that. No they don't, I guarantee you they never have just by the nature of how those sensor lenses work. The real information IS scattered across the web, but if you can't tell what's legit and what's not, how will you know what to include in the guide and what to cut?

I like a good hypothesis if it's supported by strong facts and an understanding of what you're dealing with, but I also like testing it before considering it a viable option. Granted, I'm supposing for now you're sticking to basics and not alarms. Individual movement techniques and such. That takes a lot of operations to get the right feel for and after that things start clicking together naturally.

This post is way more negative than I'd like it to be and I'm not trying to discourage anyone here. By all means, it's a wonderful subject that's fun to research and writing is an amazing way to cement ideas in your own head. To teach, in some cases, is to learn. But I advise caution in hypothetical content. One universally condemned method or two, and your reputation is forever toast.

I do think a good book of any format (digital or physical) can be quite inspiring and help motivate someone to do things. As I myself wrote about, Rogue Warrior was a huge inspiration of mine. Specifically when they form Red Cell for force pen testing government installations. I thought back then, "I want to be able to do shit like that." The wording I used probably reflects that as it follows a similar tone. These days, I'm happy to share knowledge but as far as a larger project goes I would prefer to write in a far different manner that probably wouldn't catch on as well.
Knowledge alone is not power, it is the potential for power. That potential can only be unlocked through applying that knowledge and realizing the skill.

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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Shadow Scout » Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:05 am

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Last edited by Shadow Scout on Mon Jan 15, 2024 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Psychlonic » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:42 am

Shadow Scout wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:05 am
I would be interested to see what kind of content you would provide, and what style of writing you are talking about. I can change the style with editing; the knowledge is the important thing. Is there some particular writing you can post or point me to?
I guess Xanatos and Secant are the only ones left who'd really know, but my knowledge of operations is pretty full spectrum today. I don't have time to write out full articles I'm afraid, but if there's a trip up over details such as alarm systems, locks, how sensors and switches work on a technical level and how to get past them, I'm able to craft most every tool one would need and can point to resources for a DIY-type, obviously the minor stealth details like movements, certain tool usage, light principles, sound principles, whatever people feel is missing and need more info on. At this point a lot of my knowledge has crossover into other things and my idea of "complete" is vast and will eventually bleed out of the scope of a book so that's another reason I really don't want to write much on it.

As for my writing style, I do a lot of writing on physical medium these days more so than online for my own personal sake. Often in an esoteric manner and sometimes hidden under symbolism much like alchemy. My own thoughts and philosophies often go into it which presumably wouldn't jive well with a reader into it for the raw information. To my knowledge, I haven't posted up anything like that here publicly for others to see but if I happen to remember something I can send a link. Still, I'm not really interested in being part of a publication process at the present.
Knowledge alone is not power, it is the potential for power. That potential can only be unlocked through applying that knowledge and realizing the skill.

Shadow Scout
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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Shadow Scout » Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:52 am

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Sicarius
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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Sicarius » Wed Apr 07, 2021 11:00 pm

Two things

One, I am making good progress in my writing and I have solved some problems within my ideas and concepts I was struggling with.

Two, does anybody operate anymore? Nobody has posted anything in ages. I am only doing once a week unfortunately, but I did not post last week because it was a severe fuck up.
"If one cannot be both, it is much better to be feared than loved" - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

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Xanatos
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Re: Night Ops Book?

Post by Xanatos » Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:29 pm

Occasionally, but only really post things worth posting about.
We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each lies an irreparable truth.
What is locked, can be opened. What is hidden, can be found. What is yours... can be mine.

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