4 ms·

As somebody who is friends with some LARPers, I find the usage here to be a little rude. No (sane) larper tries to convince anyone that their world is real, nor

As somebody who is friends with some LARPers, I find the usage here to be a little rude. No (sane) larper tries to convince anyone that their world is real, nor do they believe it is real, which is the parallel being drawn

yori 7y ago
Yes, I didn't get the usage of the term "LARP" in this context too. It comes off as rude and condescending to both LARPers and email users. I am not sure the term fits appropriately in this context. All LARPers are aware that they are role playing in a game, not the real world, and they do not pretend otherwise.
- tptacek 7y ago
  I certainly don't intend any offense to LARPers in general, virtually none of whom use encrypted email. Nor, indeed, email users, among whom I count myself! No, I'm pretty specific about where my criticism is aimed.
- Freak_NL 7y ago
  To larp as a verb applied to a discussion that is not about actual LARP activities (the primary sense of this word) carries a strong connotation of rudeness. Etymologically it probably emerged in the infamous *chan-culture, and is in active use there in the sense of ‘pretend play’ or ‘on-line role-playing’. It can be used to signal, in a derogatory way, that you feel that the other is spinning a yarn or indulging in a fantasy, without declaring the fictive nature of their comments, in order to provoke responses and bait others into participating. I wouldn't use this word in polite conversation, unless you are actually talking about live action role-playing.
LARP1234 7y ago
1. LARPing is nomenculture in the infosec (netsec/"cybersecurity") world. It means someone is taking security a bit too seriously, like they're in a James Bond movie. They've fallen into delusions and paranoia that everyone has the capability of a state actor, and that all systems and all actions should be considered with this notion in-mind. If someone is running TailsOS/Whonix/Qubes as their daily driver OS, and only browses from TOR, connected through a VPN/cellphone tether/coffee shop WiFi, with full hard-drive encryption using VeraCrypt+hidden partitions with a killswitch to zero out the harddrive if a certain password is entered, and runs their laptop with no battery, with a CoreBoot/LibreBoot flashed BIOS -- then they are taking this shit way too seriously and will be chided as a LARPer. Yes yes, I understand security is important -- I used to be a vulnerability researcher who transitioned to "red teaming" for a government agency -- but the above is taking things too far, especially if you're just a layman that barely makes it on anybody's radar. That's LARPing. It's like when a script kiddie buys a DDoS service, and calls themself a "hacker," for overloading a server (AnonSec/Anonymous I'm looking at you, morons). It's roleplaying, it's childish, and it will get ridiculed for its self-aggrandizing. 2. I don't know why, but everytime someone mentions that they're offended or miffed about something someone else said, especially on the internet, I have a very hard time taking them seriously. I believe it's because I grew up on hearty banter, and anyone that couldn't hang was, in my eyes, a chode. No disrespect, but I wanted to share that insight with you. Maybe it'll come in-handy somewhere down the line.
- sandov 7y ago
  A couple of observations: 1. To the outside world, a LARPer might be indistinguishable from someone that actually needs perfect opsec. Maybe that LARPer in the coffee shop is Ross Ulbricht. 2. If one day you actually need real encryption, it will help if you've LARPed in the past.
aidenn0 7y ago
I agree it's a little rude. For the meaning behind the choice from the author see this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22372065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22372065

yori 7y ago

Yes, I didn't get the usage of the term "LARP" in this context too. It comes off as rude and condescending to both LARPers and email users. I am not sure the term fits appropriately in this context. All LARPers are aware that they are role playing in a game, not the real world, and they do not pretend otherwise.

tptacek 7y ago
I certainly don't intend any offense to LARPers in general, virtually none of whom use encrypted email. Nor, indeed, email users, among whom I count myself! No, I'm pretty specific about where my criticism is aimed.
Freak_NL 7y ago
To larp as a verb applied to a discussion that is not about actual LARP activities (the primary sense of this word) carries a strong connotation of rudeness. Etymologically it probably emerged in the infamous *chan-culture, and is in active use there in the sense of ‘pretend play’ or ‘on-line role-playing’. It can be used to signal, in a derogatory way, that you feel that the other is spinning a yarn or indulging in a fantasy, without declaring the fictive nature of their comments, in order to provoke responses and bait others into participating. I wouldn't use this word in polite conversation, unless you are actually talking about live action role-playing.

LARP1234 7y ago

1. LARPing is nomenculture in the infosec (netsec/"cybersecurity") world. It means someone is taking security a bit too seriously, like they're in a James Bond movie. They've fallen into delusions and paranoia that everyone has the capability of a state actor, and that all systems and all actions should be considered with this notion in-mind. If someone is running TailsOS/Whonix/Qubes as their daily driver OS, and only browses from TOR, connected through a VPN/cellphone tether/coffee shop WiFi, with full hard-drive encryption using VeraCrypt+hidden partitions with a killswitch to zero out the harddrive if a certain password is entered, and runs their laptop with no battery, with a CoreBoot/LibreBoot flashed BIOS -- then they are taking this shit way too seriously and will be chided as a LARPer. Yes yes, I understand security is important -- I used to be a vulnerability researcher who transitioned to "red teaming" for a government agency -- but the above is taking things too far, especially if you're just a layman that barely makes it on anybody's radar. That's LARPing. It's like when a script kiddie buys a DDoS service, and calls themself a "hacker," for overloading a server (AnonSec/Anonymous I'm looking at you, morons). It's roleplaying, it's childish, and it will get ridiculed for its self-aggrandizing. 2. I don't know why, but everytime someone mentions that they're offended or miffed about something someone else said, especially on the internet, I have a very hard time taking them seriously. I believe it's because I grew up on hearty banter, and anyone that couldn't hang was, in my eyes, a chode. No disrespect, but I wanted to share that insight with you. Maybe it'll come in-handy somewhere down the line.

sandov 7y ago
A couple of observations: 1. To the outside world, a LARPer might be indistinguishable from someone that actually needs perfect opsec. Maybe that LARPer in the coffee shop is Ross Ulbricht. 2. If one day you actually need real encryption, it will help if you've LARPed in the past.

aidenn0 7y ago

I agree it's a little rude. For the meaning behind the choice from the author see this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22372065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22372065