The DMZ

Iszi

01:43

@nealmcb blog.duosecurity.com/2011/04/ssh-keys-that-call-you-back

nealmcb

01:55

@Iszi Thanks. Something different I see - interesting comment thread

AviD

07:16

hoooo.... I step out for a couple days, and all havoc breaks loose :)

I always miss the interesting stuff....

but, as everyone else is probably sleeping in EST time now, I'll take the opportunity to try to clear the air here.

@Ninefingers, to start with, I do owe you an apology.

not necessarily for anything specific that was said (I'll get to that), but as a moderator, I guess I was not as welcoming to you (as a new user) as I should have been. For that, I am sorry.

As I already expressed to @RoryAlsop, I did regret when I realized you felt "chased" away. As @nealmcb said, we do want to make everyone feel comfortable, especially anyone with value to contribute.

Also, I agree with the statements about remembering this is an open, archived forum, and that respect needs to be remembered here too. I actually made most of my comments here hoping you'd pop back in, but it is a good reminder.

Also, @Ninefingers I'm glad you decided to come here to air out the issues in public. Thanks for the opportunity to discuss this, I'm hoping we'll have a chance to coincide times later.

THAT SAID, I stand by almost everything I wrote, with a few exceptions:

1. the neckbeard comment - I am truly sorry for insulting you with that comment, it did not occur to me that it was considered a disparaging remark. I guess I didnt think that one through fully when I heard it.

(@GrahamLee, that's the 2nd time you got me in trouble ;) ).

I don't even know if you even have a beard (not that its relevant).... FWIW, I do.

(and I still don't really know why its insulting.... ) Anyway, my apologies.

2. "worthy of a dilbert comic" - that one took me a while to figure out, as I didn't say anything like that... Then I realized that I mentioned Scott Adams (the writer behind dilbert, for anyone here that doesnt know... for shame).

But I was referring to Scott Adams' blog, not the dilbert cartoon. In his blog, and especially in some recent posts, he discussed some doubletalking, that sounds nice and seems to be correct, until read carefully, and in context, and then you think that maybe the intent was opposite of what you thought.

3. Wrt accusing you:

yesterday, by Ninefingers

Being accused of rhetoric, condescension and sarcasm is very borderline behaviour for a moderator. Being described as worthy of a dilbert comic is downright rude.

Here, I very much disagree - calling foul on someone's posts is very much in line with a moderator's behaviour. In fact, it is explictly one of the main responsibilities of the moderator - to keep things "nice". And if someone isn't being "nice", it is my job as moderator to deal with it. Attacking someone with "rhetoric, condescension and sarcasm" is very much not nice, from my POV. However....

However, where I do agree with you, is that as the attackee, I should not have been the one to deal with it. Hence, I removed that from my comment, after you rightly called me out on it. I realized that, as I was the poster, I could not be impartial here.

4. I might have been mistaken, and misrepresented your participation in the religious wars on the SO q. I definitely did see your name there, but the nasty comments and personal attacks were probably not from you (I realize now). If that is the case, I apologize.

In my defense, it kind of goes with the territory of joining in a mob. In gangland attacks, anyone that participates is seen as part of the horde.

5. However, if as you say you weren't part of the aggressive attacks, then this couldnt have been including you:

yesterday, by Ninefingers

@Rory The problem isn't the single response. As I said, it's borderline. The problem is that here, on a public forum, my involvement in Stack Overflow was misrepresented, I was described as one of the "unix neckbeards with inflated egos". Specifically "one of them".

The "one of them" was referring at the time to "C/Linux guys from SO".

Again, sorry if you felt insulted from my "splatter" comments.

6. This was specifically intended for you:

yesterday, by Ninefingers

this: http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/878567#878567 and this: http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/878569#878569

As I said, I wanted you to read that, so you'd understand the other side.

Side being, having been rudely attacked and mobbed on SO, for asking a legitimate question which bothers some's religious convictions.

Again, taking into account the apparent "imbalance of power", I should apologize.

though I'd appreciate why you thought it worthy of closing on SO?

Rory Alsop

07:48

Morning @AviD

AviD

for the record, I asked the SO mods to completely delete the question, and not just close it... besides the wrongness (from a security POV), I found most of the comments to be really unpleasant, and had I read them on someone else's question I would have been offended.

To be clear, I was offended by the whole story, and almost regret asking the question at all. Almost.

It's not fair to be offended that I was offended. That is purely a wife's prerogative.

Rory Alsop

@AviD ;-P

AviD

7. Last comment, re Rook - That, I'd rather not get in to now (unless you're gathering evidence of my impropriety..? ;). He is a well-known troll, albeit also a strong contributer. But he often engages in rudeness, personal attacks, and etc. (FTR the mute button comment was not referring to him, but someone else (dont remember) on SO.)

My comment re CVE / research, while true (generating CVEs really does not compare to theoretical cryptography...), was intended to shut him down from his personal attacks. As a moderator.

Truth is, @RoryAlsop has a lot more... peaceful.. way of resolving situations, and though I didnt want it, he was right to edit it. Though leaving it would have worked too.

aaaah. All done now. I hope that you will stop by here sometime when I'm around, so we can "bury the hatchet" and put this behind us. (If you want, I'd be glad to debate the original question with you too... :P ) .

In any event, @Ninefingers, I really hope you do reconsider the site, and dont let one mad dog scare you off.

@RoryAlsop morning @RoryAlsop

(sorry, was in the middle... )

Rory Alsop

@AviD no worries. I think all good to get it out, chat and sort things out

and morning @ninefingers

Ninefingers

@AviD Apology accepted. I really don't see any point in holding a grudge over this. To be honest, I was mostly upset because I felt that of all the people who answered, I was trying to give a way that would help detect memcpy issues without replacing it, a somewhat contentious issue as you have unfortunately gathered.

AviD

08:01

good morning @Ninefingers

Ninefingers

And as for Rook, I am aware since I'm a fairly active SO user that some users repeatedly toe the line and pretty much have a 1:1 offensive/rude contribution ratio

AviD

@Ninefingers ah yeah, I have to admit I was quite taken aback by that.

@Ninefingers (isnt "toe the line" usually mean someone who does what theyre told? Or is that an americanism?)

Ninefingers

That said, I've seen complaints about their behaviour spill over onto Meta as arguments. So for users like that, I'm avoiding caution. As I said, anyone can read this, logged in or not.

AviD

@Ninefingers agreed.

@Ninefingers Sorry, but I dont see how your answer helps me with what I asked?

I agree, it is useful for a newbie that is trying to get a handle on this "buffer overflow" thing that he dont quite understand...

but I felt that you were effectively saying "stop buying MS propaganda, memcpy is not a problem at all".

(and I ree hee lyy do not want to start another flamewar here.... :S )

Ninefingers

@AviD No no problem. I didn't really answer "how can I get memcpy_s on Linux" that is very true. I was trying to provide an answer that would give people a way to work out when they've used memcpy incorrectly (it's not a catch-all, but it will help) and emphasize thinking about their code (CERT-C, splint, /Wall). I actually wanted to avoid the memcpy/memcpy_s part as much as possible.

AviD

08:09

@Ninefingers why? simply because it's inflammatory (will someone PLEASE explain to me why??), or because you think its wrong?

(just trying to understand your POV here...)

Rory Alsop

@AviD I don't think it is an inflammatory question, but people will get inflamed by it, because humans like to have loyalty to a club or a viewpoint or a group

2

and anything that challenges that can spark off flaming - think on any vi/sed war

Ninefingers

@AviD What @Rory said and hence the reason for avoiding it as much as possible.

Rory Alsop

the downside is when you really do want an answer it can be (as you have seen) a nightmare to get people to answer rationally

in saying that, you could pop over to empegbbs.com - there are some people on there who are very smart in this kind of area and there is almost no fighting. For those not in the know, the empeg is an extraordinary car stereo - long since discontinued - but the community has a high number of intelligent rational geeks

Ninefingers

You also have to realise for the Linux/Unix community portability/standards compliance is quite a big thing. Now MS chose not to support C99 because they don't feel that was as important as supporting C++0x, the up and coming C++ standard. I think commercially that's a smart move, but a lot of open source software is written with C99 features since gcc et al support C99 reasonably well.

Rory Alsop

some of whom do things like - design UAVs, wrote the linux IDE drivers, design embedded linux systems, design Apple mobile products

y'know - kinda smart :-)

AviD

08:18

@RoryAlsop :)

@RoryAlsop well, yeah, that was kinda my problem...

Ninefingers

So do you see how very quickly a decision probably made in MS's customers best interests can be misconstrued...?

AviD

and as I've said, I really don't care for religious wars, one way or another.

@Ninefingers interesting... but in my case, portability is not relevant.

Ninefingers

@AviD I know, but to the Linux people you're asking and potentially working with, it is.

AviD

If I was looking for the lowest comment denominator, I would have gone to Java. Emphasis on "lowest" ;)

Rory Alsop

@AviD now you're just trying to get a reaction :-)

AviD

08:20

@RoryAlsop hehe

naw, they're used to being the but of my jokes :D

Rory Alsop

I'll pop your question over to the empeg guys and see whether anyone has thoughts

AviD

@Ninefingers I think I've seen maybe one C or C++ project that had portability requirements.

is it more common than I thought?

and I've seen a LOT of projects, as a consultant...

Ninefingers

@AviD For open source software, very common. Think autotools. Think download that code, tar xvf file.tar.gz, ./configure, make, make install

AviD

@Ninefingers hmm... true, my head still thinks more towards enterprise systems / packaged products.

point taken.

Rory Alsop

@AviD - posted here: empegbbs.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/344507#Post344507 - I'm on there most days so will pop back any new info

AviD

08:31

@RoryAlsop cheers

wait, scratch that....

@RoryAlsop TRAITOR!! StackExchange is the ONLY Q&A site! SE is THE ONE TRUE WAY!!

hheheh

Rory Alsop

LOL

A lot of the empeg guys are going to be SO regulars, but I don't think they know of security SE yet

AviD

@RoryAlsop oo, so tricky way to pull them over here. niiiiice

think you'll get the promoter badge for that?

btw - congrats to @ThomasPornin on his crypto badge :)

btw, @Ninefingers, for the record, I wasnt trying to look for buffer overflows, I already found them aplenty.

as part of this client engagement, I wanted to give them better recommendations than just "check your buffers better". Obviously, they should know to do that, and it obviously did not work.

my usual recommendation is to use memcpy_s and the like, for MS C++.

even on linux, there are secure versions - but for C++.

oops, there I go again, calling them "secure"... ;)
but you all know what I mean, right?

anyway, my problem was the rare combination (for me) of C (and not C++) on Linux.

now that I'm running into it more, I was looking for a more apt solution.

Ninefingers

Yep, I do and I see where you're coming from.

Rory Alsop

@AviD heh - you never know

AviD

@RoryAlsop hey, as long as I get the [popular question].... ;)

well folks, I gots to run out... be back laters.

@Ninefingers - thanks for coming in, I appreciated the chance to work that out.

Rory Alsop

08:45

@AviD seeya

AviD

@RoryAlsop @GrahamLee - we should consider what to do next time there are complaints on a mod... (NOT that I'm planning anything ;) )

probably already some discussion on that on meta.so, or the lounge...

TTFN

Rory Alsop

@AviD I had a wander round meta.so - there are some bits and pieces. I think depending on the level there are actions SE may take

up to and including removal of mod privs, banning etc

but they depend on users flagging and the SE team following up

first instance always hope for a civilised discussion to sort things out

Ninefingers

For the record, I'm not interested in removing any mods, banning or anything like that. My suggestion if I can make it is the next time a mod is involved in a contentious question (bound to happen at some point as the site is young and the mods are some core contributors as well as moderators) that they flag it for other mods if they feel a user is being sarcastic and let them judge.

Rory Alsop

@Ninefingers Sounds good

Ninefingers

I'd also be careful how you discuss moderation in this channel. Remember it is public, like the meta site.

@AviD aaah what, we've only done memcpy. That leaves strcpy, strcat, ... :P

Right all, I have to go, I'm currently trying to fix something I don't get (python, don't worry) and I need to focus on it. Glad this is sorted.

Rory Alsop

09:07

@Ninefingers Mwahahaha - python (sorry, couldn't resist :-)

best of luck with it then

catch you later

Scott Pack

12:15

G'morning Gents and Nigels

C. Ross

morning all

out of curiosity, anyone else watch HackerNews?

Scott Pack

The ycombinator feed?

C. Ross

no, the security focused politically incorrect weekly news cast

Scott Pack

I hadn't come across it. I can't get their webpage to load either.

Rory Alsop

@CRoss yeah - always a good one

C. Ross

12:26

it does seem to be down right now

it's a great way for people like me, interested but not professional, to keep up with the trends

Scott Pack

After a couple of hard refreshes I managed to get the page to load.

Rory Alsop

it's working fine here

Iszi

12:41

Wow. Seems I'm missing more and more here overnight these days.

Rory Alsop

Hey @Iszi

Iszi

Mornin' @RoryAlsop

Rory Alsop

nah - 'tis mid afternoon here :-)

Iszi

No... here it's morning. Remember, we decided the chat is on Eastern U.S. time?

BTW, RE: My DM on Twitter...

Bullrun

Bullrun is an American reality television series based on the trans-American Bullrun road rally of the same name. The televised version has 12 teams compete in a 4,000-mile (6,400 km) 18-day road rally to win the grand prize of US$200,000. Bullrun uses a modified 12-car rally format. Season 1 Season 1 of Bullrun premiered on Spike on March 13, 2007. The season was hosted by former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg. Rules Objective Each day of competition contained three distinct stages - Leg 1, Heads-Up Challenge, Leg 2. Each team begins the day by choosing whether to follow "M...

Rory Alsop

wow - very cool. Another family of petrolhead Alsops

Iszi

12:47

Oh, right. You're on the Mechanics.SE as well... which reminds me, I've got another query or two for that one.

Rory Alsop

@Iszi I'm everywhere :-) Is it bad to be interested in a lot of things...

Scott Pack

/me sighs

I hate debugging mail

Rory Alsop

@ScottPack Aye - I went off it when people went off xmail and pine

Scott Pack

Let me correct that to sendmail

Iszi

For @RoryAlsop, or any other gearheads who may know:

0

Q: What factors affect the maximum air pressure that should be put in a vehicle's tires?

For just about every car, there's at least two different "maximum tire pressure" ratings. The vehicle manufacturer's rating. This is usually found on a sticker attached to the driver's door. The tire manufacturer's rating. This is usually found on the side-wall of each tire. Given this, I'v...

tires

Rory Alsop

13:06

@Iszi - just responded

maybe I should caveat that I like precise control of a vehicle just on the edge, and am not one for comfort

Iszi

13:24

@RoryAlsop You're not much of a straight-line racer, are you?

Rory Alsop

13:42

@Iszi nah - we don't have any straight roads round here

it's all about the corners

In a straight line with a rear wheel drive car, you could use higher pressure in the fronts

so twisty, you have places named like this: maps.google.co.uk/…

Thomas Pornin

14:09

@AviD Thanks !

nealmcb

@AviD Howdy! Thanks for the point-by-point response.

nealmcb

14:24

@Ninefingers Glad to see you back. Good suggestion for how mods or any other humans should deal with such stuff. But perhaps we can still let Spock and Data moderate their own wars :) Python FTW!

@AviD I'm pleasantly surprised at how direct and forthright communication can get us back on the same page. For the message referred to here, it might have been resolved more quickly if you had actually addressed Ninefingers and invoked the SE notification machinery.

Graham Lee

14:48

@AviD glad to be of service. For the record I wasn't calling anyone out by talking about neckbeards, I was referring to your comment: "tell this to any veteran C programmer, and he'll jump down your throat with both hands around your windpipe"

hey @Ninefingers

Ninefingers

Hello @Graham. @nealmcb not a bad idea, actually, I'd forgotten mods could do that.

Graham Lee

Have to admit I'm going through a bit of a love/hate^W^Wtolerate/hate relationship with StackOverflow at the moment :(

Ninefingers

?

Rory Alsop

@GrahamLee you're having lots of Captchas, right?

I have to admit I have seen one once on SE

so I wonder what triggers them

Iszi

I haven't seen a single one in quite some time. I do recall some time ago under some limited circumstance, but I think I discovered that it was rep-related.

Rory Alsop

15:00

@Iszi as in low rep requires a captcha?

Graham Lee

@RoryAlsop I think the CAPTCHAs I've been seeing were related to a general problem where none of the site's JavaScript was functioning yesterday afternoon

@RoryAlsop so the site has plenty of timers to see how fast you're typing, I expect I tripped over them because of the JS fails.

Rory Alsop

how weird. I wasn't heavily using yesterday, but had no issues

@GrahamLee ahh

that could do it:-)

Graham Lee

@RoryAlsop but no, my real problem with SO (rather than SE) is that there's a very low answer quality for Objective-C/iOS, and sometimes answers that are suboptimal or just plain wrong get voted up

Rory Alsop

is this down to the fact that few people are experienced in that space?

Graham Lee

also: answer vampires wait for you to post a good answer, then post the same answer to try and split the rep

Rory Alsop

15:04

@GrahamLee now I had spotted that over there - how sad do you have to be to do that to get your rep up?

Graham Lee

@RoryAlsop not sure. OK, in comparison with say Java or C# the number of ObjC people on SO is low. But in the ObjC community it's the main place to hang out, so it's not that the gurus don't join in

@RoryAlsop you're probably right though. Most ObjC coders are not experienced so answers that smell right might be being upvoted, without enough community weight to correct that.

Rory Alsop

@GrahamLee that is just frustrating then. I know there have been various questions on meta and chats in the Lounge around vote weight based on rep, but the problem with a niche which is minority in an environment with many who have earned their rep in other disciplines is that there will lots of people who can vote incorrectly

AviD

ahoya all

oo packed room tonight

Rory Alsop

@AviD afternoon

AviD

standing room only

Rory Alsop

15:13

heh

Iszi

Wow, we've added a second row! Nice.

Graham Lee

@RoryAlsop I'm not sure I want that anyway. I see why people are saying it, but I think it would reinforce cliquism.

AviD

@Iszi not on my 17" high-res laptop screen ;)

Graham Lee

or at least initiate cliquism.

Rory Alsop

@Iszi see me with my wide screen...still one row

:-)

@GrahamLee yep

AviD

15:14

@RoryAlsop ayup, plenty o' room here ;)

@GrahamLee btw I've seen that a lot also with security questions on SO...

Graham Lee

@RoryAlsop I remember before SO had chat, people would meet on IRC and decide what questions to upvote/downvote

AviD

@GrahamLee oh yuk

Graham Lee

@AviD I have to admit I am 'interested' in the [security] tag on SO but don't go out of my way to follow it. So much content is out of my domain

AviD

@GrahamLee oh for shure.

Rory Alsop

I do run a set of tags across all of SE which includes security, compliance, business continuity etc

but not every day

AviD

15:16

I have to filter out the many languages and platforms I dont know, have nothing to add, and especially those I dont even understand...

Ormis

^^^what did i miss here?

AviD

ooh, @Ormis, i dunno...

you might wanna just get the executive summary

or watch the trailers ;)

Rory Alsop

LOL

Ormis

wait a sec... the page refeshed and now everything new... dammit

Rory Alsop

see - the downside to getting busier

:-)

chat gets fuller and faster

Ormis

15:17

i read a message... by you @AviD, if i remember correctly.. and you said you called someone a neckbeard? haha

AviD

@Ormis no no no!!!

Rory Alsop

Best not start that again

Ormis

alright, then nvm

forget i mentioned it

Graham Lee

Case in point: on this iOS security question, I'm pretty sure I answered the question and the upvoted answer didn't:

0

A: iPhone: How do I securely transfer data from device to server

Part one: create a dictionary that represents the cart. For each variable, add a key with its variable name as the key, and the cart object's value for that variable as the object for that key. Part two: that's a very open-ended question :-). That depends on how you identify the user at both end...

AviD

oo, ayup, what he said

Ormis

15:18

awh, hha

AviD

@GrahamLee this issue keeps coming up....

Ormis

rofl, that's what we've always called CS guys

AviD

@Iszi just asked it on meta last week, @D.W couple months ago....

Graham Lee

@AviD haha! I can star your deleted message :)

Ormis

and i'm sorry for bringing it up again lol

AviD

15:19

it comes down to the fact the majority does not always know best...

@GrahamLee hehh

okay, I wanna grab @ThomasPornin's opinion while he's in the room...

Iszi

@AviD Wait... I just asked what on Meta? I haven't been really active on Meta.Anything in awhile...

AviD

as the only real-life cryptologistician I know...

Ormis

ANYWAYS..... anyone else want to slap vCenter for not accepting vHosts?

AviD

@ThomasPornin what do you think of:

Thomas Pornin

@GrahamLee Isn't knowing that you are right its own recompense ?

AviD

15:21

136

Cryptography

Proposed Q&A site for software developers, mathematicians and others interested in cryptography.

Currently in commitment.

and specifically

0

Q: Scope of Cryptography proposal overlaps with other existing sites

Proposal: Cryptography, CS Theory, IT Security I am failing to understand the scope of this proposal. The comments like these: Since this site was not merged with the security.stackexchange.com one, and that one does cover applied cryptography, as in developers using encryption and building ...

technology science proposal-scope closing

to you, is cryptography a proper subset of CS Theory?

theoretical crypto, that is... as applied crypto can usually be covered here.

Thomas Pornin

@AviD If you want the fine script, cryptology is the part of cryptography which is also a subset of CS Theory

AviD

@ThomasPornin ooo good point

actually, I've always learned (and taught) that cryptography is part of cryptology?

as is cryptanalysis

how do you differentiate them?

@Iszi didnt you? about the wrong accepted answer...

Thomas Pornin

There are byzantine distinctions on the terms, and not everyone agrees on the specific meanings.

"Cryptography" is a good catch-all term.

Iszi

@AviD Oh, I think I may have made some comment, or mention in chat. Did I make a Meta Q?

AviD

@ThomasPornin even to include cryptanalysis?

Thomas Pornin

15:24

I use "cryptology" when I want to insist on the "that's Science with a big S" part

Graham Lee

@ThomasPornin no. Knowing that I've helped someone else is the goal.

Rory Alsop

@ThomasPornin "We're doing Science" :-)

AviD

@Iszi ah oops, no - you made a comment here, about a q by @frankodwyer.

1

Q: What's the etiquette for correcting answers?

I've noticed some accepted answers with a lot of votes which are strictly speaking not correct, even though they contain a lot of useful information. Just as an example, the current accepted answer to this question is mostly pretty good however the first sentence is very wrong - a certificate is...

discussion

Thomas Pornin

I use "cryptanalysis" to designate the act of designing attacks on cryptographic algorithms, so it is part of cryptography

Graham Lee

@ThomasPornin what I want to do is to make security and privacy important factors for all iOS app developers, and make all apps on the store somewhat low risk. If I happen to be able to help pay the rent while doing so, it makes it even better :-)

Thomas Pornin

15:26

I am not using "cryptanalysis" to designate an actual attack instance (i.e. recovering a key), I call that an "attack".

AviD

@ThomasPornin but isnt ...graphy about writing the crypto-ed data?

Iszi

Also, reviewing my history, I ran across this and am now confused.

AviD

@ThomasPornin right, a cryptanalytical attack (as opposed to an application attack, or a network attack). no?

Iszi

3

A: Spam Users Posting Links in Answers

This is a particularly nasty human spammer from China. We've been having trouble with this one network-wide. We banned one 127.0.*.* range for this user already, I see another one and it is getting banned as well.

Graham Lee

If my useful answer gets buried under other, unhelpful answers, I can't be sure I've helped anyone.

Thomas Pornin

15:27

@AviD The "graphy" part is mostly an archaeological remain from a time when there was no computer at all.

Graham Lee

@Iszi wait, so Jeff has banned 127.0.0.1 from the site? :D

Iszi

My comment is that I thought all of 127.0.0.0/8 was reserved by IANA for IPv4 loopback. But @nealmcb mentioned something about Jeff intending to specify a /16. How does that still make sense?

Thomas Pornin

So, to sum up, if there are CS Theory, Cryptography and IT Security SE, then yes there is considerable overlap.

AviD

@Iszi dunno bout that, but on the lighter side, we havent seen that user back in a while. Knock on wood and all that...

Iszi

@GrahamLee +1 here. That's why I think in cases of extreme erroneousness, or out-dated-ness, mods should be allowed to un-accept (or vote-un-accept) answers.

AviD

15:29

@ThomasPornin I think overlap is fine, unless its a complete proper subset.

@Iszi but again, how should the mods know whats the right answer?

Thomas Pornin

@AviD Cryptography would be a proper subset of the union of IT Security and CS Theory (but not a subset of either)

C. Ross

@Iszi An interesting idea ... that would be a BFD if we could

people already hate mod interaction already

Thomas Pornin

Who is mod by the way ?

AviD

@Iszi it would make more sense to have response based on overwhelming support for a different answer, in relation to the accepted one. And not just a badge.

@CRoss BFD?

Thomas Pornin

I have not really investigated how the whole mod business works.

Iszi

15:31

@AviD Mods are generally uber-high-rep users, who have earned that rep by being identified by the community as knowledgeable experts in the field.

Thomas Pornin

Maybe I am mod without knowing it ?

C. Ross

@AviD Big F Deal

AviD

@ThomasPornin of crypto? noone yet. its still in commitment

@CRoss ah of course :$

@ThomasPornin ah heh, no. Myself, @RoryAlsop and @GrahamLee are the mods here.

Graham Lee

@ThomasPornin you would know: you'd have a big diamond by your name and get lots of spam from Rob and Rebecca.

AviD

you can tell by the little diamond by our names, on the site.

Graham Lee

15:32

(it's not really spam, I'm just always out when the chat-casts are taking place)

Iszi

@CRoss That's why I suggested perhaps an un-accept vote. Make that only available to mods and/or super-high-rep users.

C. Ross

and mods have blue names in chat

AviD

@GrahamLee lol, ah yeah, that too...

Scott Pack

Jeebus! I amble up to the DC for an hour or so and come back to a freaking wall of text.

Rory Alsop

:-)

Hey @Scott

that'll teach ya

Scott Pack

15:33

I was having fun too. Plugging stuff in, rerouting cables, blah

AviD

@Iszi yeah, but there are different fields here.

C. Ross

@Iszi I can see the use, but I'm sure it wouldn't go over well with a certain group of users

Thomas Pornin

@CRoss Two mysteries solved in less than 5 minutes

AviD

f.e. though I am currently the highest user on the site (wooohooo! @RoryAlsop eat my dust ;) ), I am a noob when it comes to network configs, *nix, or protocol hacks.

not to mention crypto

Rory Alsop

@AviD wait till next week :-)

AviD

15:34

@Iszi ah, that would make more sense, methinks...

but be very unpopular...

Rory Alsop

whereas I am not so hot on Microsoft, but have nearly 20 years on network, *nix and the 'old skool' stuff

Iszi

@AviD Like many mod functions, should only be put to rare use.

Rory Alsop

@Iszi yeah, ideally we just follow flags from users

except when something is obviously broken

Iszi

@RoryAlsop Another part of being a (voted) mod is that you're recognized as being responsible and wise enough to know where your areas of expertise are, and to stay out of matters that don't fall in them.

Rory Alsop

aye - that's me, eh

heh

Graham Lee

15:36

I did recently look back through very old questions looking for dupes that I closed unilaterally. But I had to get unbelievably bored before I did that.

Rory Alsop

we'll see what happens with voting when we go live

AviD

@Iszi oh I definitely know where I'm clueless....

Rory Alsop

@AviD Hahahahahaha

AviD

EVERYwhere except here

Scott Pack

@AviD Well.....

Graham Lee

15:38

BTW @RoryAlsop speaking of 'rest and be thankful', glad you don't live on the Orkneys any more and start telling everyone what they call their towns :-P

AviD

(here meaning the q's I have open - mainly appsec, mostly MS / Java platforms... )

@GrahamLee sfunny - but I still find the magic roundabout to be the best landmark on UK maps...

Graham Lee

@AviD which one? There's a magic roundabout in Swindon, Hemel Hempstead, and probably some other places by now :)

Rory Alsop

@GrahamLee I delight in a valid use of the word Twatt:-)

AviD

@GrahamLee oh, they're all hysterical, for non-brits

Rory Alsop

maps.google.co.uk/…

Scott Pack

15:40

@AviD I had not seen one of those before. I feel ill just thinking of it.

AviD

@RoryAlsop Twatt? is that what you call Orkney-ites?

Rory Alsop

no it actually is a village

AviD

@ScottPack lol. I know, right??

Rory Alsop

we call ourselves Orcadians, and all others Ferryloupers

AviD

as if driving on the wrong side of the road isnt enough....

Rory Alsop

15:41

literally - those who would have to loup across on the ferry to get to Orkney

AviD

@RoryAlsop heheh

Rory Alsop

@AviD and you thought I was making it up

AviD

@RoryAlsop naw, I believe anything about the magic kingdom

oh, wait, isnt that disney...? ah whatever...

my british friends all have fun putting me on

when I used to travel to london every month, they kept tricking me into saying names of places and stuff wrong

I mean, more wrong than you guys already pronounce them....

Rory Alsop

@AviD hahahaha - national hobby

AviD

@RoryAlsop whats that, pronouncing things wrong? :P

Rory Alsop

15:43

anyway, they all pronounce things incorrectly that far south anyway, don't they @Graham

AviD

well, they're not provinshall, ahre they now...

Scott Pack

@AviD I really enjoy watching British TV and counting how many syllables just get skipped.

AviD

ah yeah, nuther national pass-ime, innit...

so @ThomasPornin, wanna weigh in on that crypto / CS discussion?

0

Q: Scope of Cryptography proposal overlaps with other existing sites

Proposal: Cryptography, CS Theory, IT Security I am failing to understand the scope of this proposal. The comments like these: Since this site was not merged with the security.stackexchange.com one, and that one does cover applied cryptography, as in developers using encryption and building ...

technology science proposal-scope closing

Graham Lee

@RoryAlsop in addition to the usual "Eddinborrow" nonsense, I even once heard a USian ask where "Loogerberooger" was.

Rory Alsop

@GrahamLee Loughborough? That's brilliant!

AviD

15:52

@RoryAlsop hehe, even I know that's not right

though I honestly have no idea what is

Scott Pack

@GrahamLee Were they from Iowa?

AviD

I would guess (assuming its in Scotland), that is luchbra? (gutteral ch...)

Rory Alsop

I was amused once while standing on Castle Street in Edinburgh, a couple did ask me where the castle was. I know it's not an accent story, but it did amuse me. For those not familiar with Edinburgh, Castle Street faces the castle:-)

luffbru

AviD

@RoryAlsop fair nuff, I was close tho...

Scott Pack

That whole "big fortress on top of a dead volcano" thing tends to stand out a bit as well...

Rory Alsop

15:54

well, it doesn't look like a castle apparently

Disney is the role model

I quite like defensible fortress on top of dead volcano, meself

AviD

@RoryAlsop lol!

has a self destruct built in, eh?

Rory Alsop

...dead volcano, not live volcano

AviD

yeah yeah, thats what pompeiites thought too ;)

pompites?

Scott Pack

@RoryAlsop Well, sure, it's no Thirlestane, but still....

AviD

pompousites?

nm...

Graham Lee

15:56

@ScottPack oh, you're from Iowa? You must know her then.

Scott Pack

Pompanites!

Rory Alsop

Romans?

Graham Lee

Portsmouthians! #theotherPompey

Scott Pack

@GrahamLee Sorry, mate, I'm about 500 miles from Iowa.

Thomas Pornin

@AviD I am not sure I have extra points to add to the discussion.

AviD

15:58

@ThomasPornin well, I dont think any cryptographers have weighed in there (though I'm not sure about all the users). From what I saw, it was devs on the one side, CS Theorists on the other, and security folk in the middle...

Thomas Pornin

Bill states it quite correctly; CS Theory and Security together cover the whole of the suggested site.

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