A Call To Arms

A Call To Arms by Maxewell on 2017-03-07 04:53:00 UTC

A bit of an ettiquette note (and find hidden messsage here) by Tomash on 2017-03-07 05:31:00 UTC Reply
First, for those of you who don't feel like looking for elements with "display:none;" on them as if this Board were a Capture The Flag, the message was
```
Hidden Message Found! Congratulations. I'll be doing this in whatever I post, purely for that little bit of added commentary. I'm a major code and cryptology nerd.
```
This sort of thing is, well, not appreciated here. We'd like to read your posts and hear what you have to say, but most of us don't feel like digging through rather flimsy concealment mechanisms to do it. In other words, please don't pull these message-hiding tricks anymore.

Actually, "display:none;"ing out spoilers might be a clever trick if you really want to hide them. However, if you're doing that you should probably tell people how to see them (or just go with white font on white).

Furthermore, I strongly suspect (but am not entirely certain) that trying to sneak Javascript onto the Board will get the Nameless Admin to stir from wherever they are to at least delete your post.

Anyways, since I haven't said it below, welcome to the PPC!

And just for fun, I think the following piece of encrypted English text might be of interest to you (you've probably seen the plaintext recently)

Lzgm kzsdl escw lzqkwdx dwyatdw. Khwdd ugjjwuldq sfv mkw yggv yjseesj lg lzw twkl gx qgmj stadalq — jwewetwj, lzw HHU ak s xgjuw xgj yggv ojalafy, sfv lzsl afudmvwk KHsY. Ozwjwnwj qgm sjw af lzw HHU ugeemfalq, khwdd, hmfulmslw sfv yjseeslakw lg lzw nwjq zayzwkl klsfvsjv. Guuskagfsd zgfwkl eaklscwk oadd tw xgjyanwf, gx ugmjkw — tml wnwjqlzafy wdkw skavw, al’dd tw zsjv xgj wnwjqgfw lg mfvwjklsfv qgm sfv jwkhgfv lg qgm ax qgm yg, "GEY! A usfl twdanw lszl fwokl egnaw ak gml! Alk kg yj8!"

- Tomash

I know it wasn't meant for me, but I've cracked it. by Storme Hawk on 2017-03-07 10:00:00 UTC Reply

I mean, there's a certain series of letters that simply has to translate to a certain other series of letters we all know and (mostly) love. Then added onto the fact that I can't think of anyone who uses the long dashes in their posts, made me work out exactly where the plaintext came from. Then finally the 'spoken' part at the end confirmed exactly where it was from. I then used a small sample of letters from the plaintext and ciphertext to work out the cipher itself.

All I'll say is it's not the normal PPC censoring code (for those on Discord), and that if it was me I'd of used the Vignere Cipher, because I'm nice like that.

Storme Hawk

P.S Hey Maxewell.
I don't think that's fair. by Huinesoron on 2017-03-07 08:37:00 UTC Reply

It's certainly possible you don't like the idea of hidden messages, but you don't speak for the Board as a whole. I don't think you were active when we played around with HTML colours - it was a few years back now - but it was quite fun at the time.

I'll draw your attention to the Constitution, and specifically Articles 16 (silliness) and 20 (randomness). As long as it isn't being used to misbehave, this is hardly that requires such a comprehensive put-down.

hS

PS: What JavaScript? Maxewell doesn't seem to have used any. Do you have a specific reason to think they might?

It was unfair. I'm sorry. by Tomash on 2017-03-07 14:40:00 UTC Reply

When I wrote that post, I was preemptively annoyed at the thought of having to dig through everything Maxwell posted from now until the end of time for cleverly-hidden comments, since I'd understood his post to mean that they would be there. That was probably an extremely uncharitable reading of his words, so yeah, Maxwell, sorry for yelling at you about this.

I'm not actually inherently opposed to the idea of hidden messages. A "let's all play with clever ways to hide something" thread sounds like a pretty fun thing! In fact, there's one in this post (if it doesn't get eaten).

As to JavaScript, when I was writing the post, I saw Maxwell as someone who was having a lot of fun probing at the edges of the filtering/security on the Board, so I had the impression that it'd only be a matter of time before he posted a few alert(1);s to see what he could get away with on a technical level. This would, of course, make any thread it happened in really annoying to read because of the constant dialog box popups.

Right, arms called! by Aegis on 2017-03-07 05:09:00 UTC Reply

Quite what for, though, I'm not entirely sure. You don't really appear to have given any sort of reason--or call, if you will--to get all up in arms. More let us know that you like to obfuscate your methods of communication.

I have no problem with puzzles, personally, but why would you want to hide your commentary in a place literally built on intelligent criticism?

Re: Right, arms called! by Maxewell on 2017-03-07 05:22:00 UTC Reply

The point of this post is a feeler, one could say - I was unsure if people were interested in this general area, so I made this. This community is built on intelligent criticism, and I've been meaning to write a story involving code. To be more specific, I've been thinking about creating a game with a storyline based heavily around code, which involves solving puzzles and ciphers in order to guide the player through the story. Sorry for any misunderstandings; I do enjoy to be vague sometimes purely to watch and judge a reaction as a way to gauge people's attitudes. Cheers.

I found it. by Cat-on-the-Keyboard on 2017-03-07 05:07:00 UTC Reply

Also, remember that with every new post made, an older discussion drops off the bottom of the page, so be mindful of whether or not your topic warrants its own thread. Perhaps the coders here will want to discuss this in thorough detail, but to me it seems like this could probably have been posted as an addendum to your intro post.
Just in case you were feeling like a 1337 haxxor, remember my coding ability.
--Key is a pillar of the community; she gets to be standoffish and haughty. Especially to the people she knows in Real Life :P

P.S. Let me know if I'm annoying you