3 ms·

Nonsense - the article comes across more weakly by taking a personal tone.

tptacek 13y ago
It's a technical article. You can like it more or less because of its tone, but if you're an engineer, you should be persuaded (or not) by the content, not the persuasiveness of the writing.
- saosebastiao 13y ago
  One shouldn't have to filter personal bullshit to be able to read technical content.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    And? Perhaps one does in this case. If you're technically competent, you should be able to evaluate the claims in the article regardless.
    - saosebastiao 13y ago
      I'm not technically competent. At least as far as crypto goes. But I can understand things like "shortens the time needed for a brute force attack" quite fine. And many non technical people can do the same. By littering this article with petty personal bullshit, he commits the same sin as cryptocat: failing to inform users.
      - tptacek 13y ago
        So what? He's not providing an encryption tool for LGBTQ activists, like Cryptocat claims to do. The bar he needs to meet is lower. Unlike the Cryptocat team, he is not actually obligated to inform Cryptocat's user base; regardless, he's done them a huge service by donating his time to finding vulnerabilities.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
    - windexh8er 13y ago
      I think the unfortunate side of this is it "feels" like there is an agenda, regardless of if that's the case or not. Technical basis aside, one generally wouldn't write a white paper on this format.
  - nmcfarl 13y ago
    I agree. They say you should write to your audience and this feels like the author did and it’s targeted at an audience - that, well, is not HN. I wish it had been targeted at HN - as then I would have read it. But after the first couple of sentences I gave up - and waited for people with more fortitude, to read the doc and report back here. (Thanks to everyone who did that.)
- extra88 13y ago
  It is difficult, to say the least, to conceive of some Platonic ideal of "the content" of a written work without being influenced, positively or negatively, by the style of the writing. Your profession does not make you immune to this.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    This is a software engineering discussion. The "content" is links to diffs, plus sentences describing the diffs. If you can code, you can read the diffs and the sentences and reconcile them. If you can't, I concede, you probably can't do much more than talk about the "tone".

It's a technical article. You can like it more or less because of its tone, but if you're an engineer, you should be persuaded (or not) by the content, not the persuasiveness of the writing.

saosebastiao 13y ago
One shouldn't have to filter personal bullshit to be able to read technical content.
- tptacek 13y ago
  And? Perhaps one does in this case. If you're technically competent, you should be able to evaluate the claims in the article regardless.
  - saosebastiao 13y ago
    I'm not technically competent. At least as far as crypto goes. But I can understand things like "shortens the time needed for a brute force attack" quite fine. And many non technical people can do the same. By littering this article with petty personal bullshit, he commits the same sin as cryptocat: failing to inform users.
    - tptacek 13y ago
      So what? He's not providing an encryption tool for LGBTQ activists, like Cryptocat claims to do. The bar he needs to meet is lower. Unlike the Cryptocat team, he is not actually obligated to inform Cryptocat's user base; regardless, he's done them a huge service by donating his time to finding vulnerabilities.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
  - windexh8er 13y ago
    I think the unfortunate side of this is it "feels" like there is an agenda, regardless of if that's the case or not. Technical basis aside, one generally wouldn't write a white paper on this format.
- nmcfarl 13y ago
  I agree. They say you should write to your audience and this feels like the author did and it’s targeted at an audience - that, well, is not HN. I wish it had been targeted at HN - as then I would have read it. But after the first couple of sentences I gave up - and waited for people with more fortitude, to read the doc and report back here. (Thanks to everyone who did that.)
extra88 13y ago
It is difficult, to say the least, to conceive of some Platonic ideal of "the content" of a written work without being influenced, positively or negatively, by the style of the writing. Your profession does not make you immune to this.
- tptacek 13y ago
  This is a software engineering discussion. The "content" is links to diffs, plus sentences describing the diffs. If you can code, you can read the diffs and the sentences and reconcile them. If you can't, I concede, you probably can't do much more than talk about the "tone".