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Comment by version_five | Hacker News Reader

Reminds me of this - predating AI

  As early as 1860, experienced telegraph operators realized they could actually recognize each individual by everyone's unique tapping rhythm. To the trained ear, the soft tip-tap of every operator could be as recognizable as the spoken voice of a family member.

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My Dad was a morse intercept operator for the US Army, mid 60s, stationed in Northern Japan. He has stories of them naming all the Soviet morse operators by the way the tapped.

Cryptonomicon mentions this as well. Each operator having a particular "fist" that was unique to them.

It's still true now in ham radio, even for those using a bug (vibroplex keyer) or even an electronic keyer, will still leak some of their natural fist thru.

I remember playing FPS game called Enemy Territory as teenager and after awhile whenever I was in 1v1 shoot out with one of my “clan” members I knew who it was based on their movement.

I was walking down the street a couple years ago, in my peripheral vision I noticed the gait of someone walking across the street traveling the other direction, instant recall of that former coworkers name from 10 years previous. It would have taken longer to recognize them visually if they were standing still. Still amazes me, years later.

Gait?

Fixed, thanks!

This happens all the time in video games. Fighting game players often revere it as a form of unique personal expression, and it's interesting as a spectator because you absolutely can recognize the players by their plays, but it's extremely hard to explain how you can do that.

it's called pattern recognition

Yep, but explaining the exact pattern is often difficult

Off topic, but if it was Wolfenstein ET I will just add that there still is a community for it and a Foss version of it that runs on modern operating systems

https://www.etlegacy.com/

Thanks, I spent many hours and late nights into early mornings playing this game.

I loved that game, but it became all about the trick jumps, which basically broke every map and that just got annoying as all hell.

I had the same experience with my workmates, in Quake 3. We played so much on the same maps that I recognized anyone by their play style, and also because they liked different parts of the maps.

Oh yeah, every ham knows you can recognize the sending fist. If they're actually using a real key, anyway.

This made my Google the etymology of 'ham-fisted' and I was disappointed that it had nothing to do with ham operators with carpal tunnel syndrome.

It's the opposite, really. The radio term was a pejorative, as the professionals saw the amateurs as ham-fisted.

I don't understand your sentence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph_key#Operators'_%22fi...

> With straight keys, side-swipers, and, to an extent, bugs, each and every telegrapher has their own unique style or rhythm pattern when transmitting a message. An operator's style is known as their "fist".

> Since every fist is unique, other telegraphers can usually identify the individual telegrapher transmitting a particular message. This had a huge significance during the first and second World Wars, since the on-board telegrapher's "fist" could be used to track individual ships and submarines, and for traffic analysis.

Identifiable ... by the way they tap out Morse code with their hand/fist.

Ham = amateur radio operator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio

Hey's saying if you are using a straight key instead of an iambic keyer (different morse sending tech) then you can recognize the operator from their patterns (the first)

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