Go for a book to gain the knowledge, examples: https://bookauthority.org/books/best-network-protocols-books

Tryhackme or hackthebox for learning and practice in DFIR?

I use syncthing, it is great for folder syncthing between multiple devices and no “server” needed

Well, they used to copy and publish it, now they copy it, edit it and publish it: improvement!

awesome read, thanks

although having the same community in different servers might serve a purpose as well, I try to subscribe to the “same” community in different servers, this way you don’t have centralization since if one goes down, the others are still up, and you can post to whatever server and interested people will see the post (assuming everyone does the same).

Certifications can be a structured way to get knowledge, that is how I see them, and I tend to favor those that require practical exams vs theoretical answer choices, because I feel most of the information I got in school with theoretical exams is gone.

I view the practical certifications with higher regard because of that.