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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

I really don't care about any of this. I would only push back on the idea that you might want to choose VPN software by first verifying that it somehow can take advantage of Curve25519 and then counting lines of code (whether or not you choose to include OpenSSL's line count). No, that would get you to some bad places.

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The problem with your comments is they assume things about other users. You have no idea what software I use, how I verify it, how I modify it or how I use it. You have no idea what I am doing. Stop making assumptions.

If you really dont care (as would be expected) then dont downvote and comment.

If you want to use this forum to give unsolicited "advice" to readers then you can do that (easy for me to filter this out). But please do not use my comments as a launching pad for your free "advice" and "guidance".

If you want to change what software people use, why not write some software yourself and publish it?

Thomas couldn't have downvoted you there: HN doesn't let users downvote replies to their own comments.

I meant the downvote and accompanying reply I got on the initial comment I made where I asked the question "How portable is WireGuard to BSD, Minix, Plan9, etc.". Even if he did not do the downvote, a comment like the one he left triggers an automatic flurry of downvotes.

He claims something about "bad security advice". But really what is going on is he is telling people what software to use again, and what software not to use.

I mention I am using some software, for a purpose he does not know (no encryption in fact required for my use) without naming the software, and he posts some inane comment about writing such software being "easy". I am not the author of the software in question, I believe he is talented software author, and I really dont care how easy it was for him to write.

What I care about is that being small in size, I can work with the source code easier. What I care about, the things about software I value, is not "security advice". Its what I care about.

Of course what he cares about, the software he chooses to endorse, is security advice. I do not care what software he likes or doesnt like. But he will not spare us his opinions. Because he is here to "give advice".

I do not endorse software. I rarely name the software I am using. I might describe it generally. While I may have different preferences and make different choices, I certainly do not try to put down other users choices in software. Other users specify software by name, providing links and wax poetic about it. The "security expert" says nothing.

I make a comment about software I am using, and the qualities of software I care about (small, portable, fast, flexible), without naming the software, and suddenly we have (as he claims) a "bad security advice" alert.

Never mind that the point of the comment is to ask if WireGuard is portable, so I can try using it.

I find the idea that someone is actively trying to indiscriminately control what software HN readers use to be insulting. If advice or recommendatons are sought, then requests for advice or recommendations will be made. But when someone is trying to supress or discredit the informed choices of users who are neither seeking (nor giving) advice then that is truly pathetic.

One would hope that reasonable persons would be above this sort of behavior.

If you offer bad security advice, you can reliably expect me to correct it.

Thats what you think I did? I said I was using some unnamed peer-to-peer software. I never told anyone else to mimic me. I did not even answer others who asked me to name the software. Interestingly, I never said I personally was using encryption nor did I explain how encryption might be implemented, yet you went right ahead and assumed you knew how this software worked and how I was using it, including something about "slapping some encryption on a tun/tap device".

I do not offer security advice nor do I tell people what to do or what not to do in web forums. That is what you do.

Do you hold any professional licenses? Ones that permit you to give advice? I am guessing you do not. How would someone hold you to account for receiving bad advice?

If you honestly think I am "offering security advice", then why not ask me, "You mentioned that you use some software that can (optionally) perform encryption. Are you offering security advice?"

The answer will always be "No." (I am not obsessed with security. The primary "threat model" for me is advertising and certain web developers who want to waste my time.)

I am not a "conventional" user. I do not choose software based on popularity or the opinions of others. Other HN readers are not going to follow me like some sort of pied piper, if that is what you are worried about. Especially since with a few exceptions (where I am using well-known software that is popular on HN) I am not even disclosing the "brand names" for what software I am using. Even if I did disclose, the majority of HN readers would not want to use what I am using. I make sacrafices they would not be willing to make.

It would be nice to be able to discuss software choices with other nonconventional users reading HN, but it is precisely because of commenters like yourself that unconventional users like me are better off keeping such things to themselves.

Keep up the good work.

"... (whether of not you choose to include OpenSSL's line count)..."

Why does someone just assume everyone wants to use OpenSSL?

I have never intentionally chosen to use libssl or other SSL/TLS libraries and I never will. (That wont stop this person from replying to a comment that has nothing to do with SSL/TLS from telling us how we can use SSL/TLS to get whatever it is we are after.) Not gonna happen with this user.

The reason I am interested in Curve25519 is precisely because I am not interested in OpenSSL. I am interested in Curve25519 because I like the type of software the author writes.

That author writes what I consider to be relatively small, fast, portable, flexible software. The authors of OpenSSL write the sort of software I do not like to use, for a variety of reasons. There are too many to list. OpenSSL, and SSL/TLS in general, is nothing more than a PITA to me.

It is a nuisance.

I do not care if SSL libraries offer Curve25519. I was already using Curve25519 before they adopted it. I am not interested in SSL/TLS. I do not care how much anyone else likes it.

I am interested in alternatives to SSL/TLS and the prevailing web PKI. The author of Curve25519 provided prototypes for one such alternative.

I do not care what someone else thinks of these, when that person can offer zero technical analysis to support his snarky opinions. The only thing that matters to me is what I think of the software. If I like it, I use it.

I use CurveCP everyday on my own network. If somebody giving free "security advice" on a web forum has a problem with the fact I like some software, then they should take it up with the author of the software who published it.

Me, I am just a satisfied end user. I know nothing.

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