TH2010...

I can understand how people's comments can sometimes be misconstrued and taken negatively.  BillV was trying to point you in a very reasonable direction.  Please understand his motives, and continue the discussion, if you truly have interest in the areas you brought up.

We're not here to slam you, etc.  Remember, you did ask for advice and thoughts, and BillV's were exactly that.

It was a legitimate question/suggestion/piece of advice.  If this person wants others to join some sort of venture then a business plan is paramount.

Welcome to the forums by the way!

I was almost interested when I saw the subject line.  I haven't been around all that much, but I have run other types of forums and when you are a newbie on the forum, you really need to watch how you behave.  Seems the BillV offered his recommendations.  You (OP) could have simply noted and watched the forum for other suggestions. 

Frankly it sounds like you want to start a cyber-vigilante group.  My concern with this would be what happens when you happen across a would be scammer site that may be watched by a legitimate group and you can end up getting into a sticky situation. 

Or do you want to start a hacker-space?  Like others have said there are probably a number of groups doing similar things.  Why reinvent the wheel?  As for the "business plan"  well it doesn't hurt.  Every club out there has a mission that is stated.  This allows the group to keep focused and know the direction they want to go.  It also allows them to build on that mission and develop more complex goals.

Besides there is a big enough group here, I'm sure someone has something going on that they wouldn't mind some additional assistance.

I have read the post and its comments with much interest.

BillV is correct you need a blueprint before embarking on a 'project' involving more than one person. It is the foundation of any good 'team' and that is what was intended… or am I missing the fact that this was a post to propose a team of sorts? How else would you get everyone on the same page and facing the same direction so to speak? The old saying, 'Failing to plan is planning to fail' rings true and I have personally seen it in many projects IT and other that I have been involved in.

I commend the OP on his passion for the subject but believe he should take heed of some good advice and not take comments so personally. It was a good idea... so let’s hear your plan? I doubt anyone wanted a dissertation and presentation just some bullet points of what your goals, objectives and strategy was and how you saw this coming together.

And what do you think will happen when you interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation?

This idea has been floated around from time to time and is nothing new. There have been many individuals who've had nice theories about eliminating threats but are too often blinded to see bigger pictures. For instance... You stumble upon say a site filled with despicable child porn, your initial instincts after wanting to physically hurt the owners is to remove the site... Do you remove it? How? Hack into it? DoS it? By hacking into the site, you're no better than any other malicious hacker period. DoS'ing? Same.

Not only are you no better, but you could be setting yourself up for tampering with an investigation by a law enforcement agency. You don't and can't know whether or not the site is under surveillance. You can't and won't know - unless they arrest you - that you potentially crippled the work of investigators who may have been close to legally arresting a website owner/operator and or closing down a website.

Take a step away from the technological aspects of this for a moment... Place this into another situation: "Hi, I've seen many people get mugged on the street and I was wondering if someone would like to join my group of vigilantes. We decided that we are the judge jury and executioner. Wanna join?

Forget about business plans as there would be little viability in it. There may be a personal moral redemptional reward for you, but at the end of the day you're looking for trouble on both sides of the law. To repeat, you could be jeopardizing an investigation and secondly, if you think some of these spammers and kiddie porn peddlers are Jack-in-the-Box do-nothing'ers, don't think for a minute that some organized crime boss making millions off of spam, etc., won't stop to harm you if found. They will NOT hesitate to pay someone to off you for peanuts.