Bit of an odd intro: I’m a carpenter, 42 years at the bench. I’m the type who can’t stand making the same thing everyone else makes, so I’ve always chased the technical side too - CNC, laser cutting, and lately building software to run my machines.

At some point I wanted to send my own designs to people without them leaking anywhere, and I went down the rabbit hole of how messaging actually works. What got me was realising how much of the “free” stuff is paid for with our privacy. That annoyed me enough that I decided to build my own messenger, mostly to learn. It grew from something simple into a real thing. I called it Sherlock.

Two things I cared about: proper encryption, and NOT tying it to a phone number - I built a different system for that.

I’m not going to pretend I reinvented cryptography. I’m a woodworker who got obsessed. So I’d rather hear it straight from people who actually know this stuff:

  • How much does the “no phone number” approach really buy you if I get the rest wrong?
  • For a small independent project, what’s the bar before any of you would even consider trusting it - open source, audit, something else?

Genuinely here for the criticism, not the pats on the back.

  • Beacon@fedia.io
    16·
    3 months ago

    You could prevent people from having this reaction by just putting a note at the top of your text saying:

    “Note: i wrote this in a different language and translated it to english with ai. I apologize if anything is difficult to understand”

    • hoblik@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      52·
      3 months ago

      That’s genuinely good advice, thank you - simple and honest, and it heads off the whole thing before it starts. I’ll do exactly that from now on.

      Note: English isn’t my first language - I write in my own language and AI helps me translate. Apologies if anything reads oddly.

        • hoblik@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          12·
          3 months ago

          Thank you, that really means a lot - because honestly, after that last comment I started to feel like an intruder here, like using AI made me unwelcome in this group. So your words landed well.

          I’m not trying to fool anyone. I just use what AI knows to build my own dreams and to get through everyday things. That’s all it is for me - a tool, the same way a laser or a chisel is a tool in my workshop.

          I actually have more I’d like to say, but after that last comment I got a little afraid to say anything at all. Your message made it easier. Thank you for that.

          (Note: English isn’t my first language - I write in my own and AI helps me translate.)

            • Robust Mirror@aussie.zoneEnglish
              2·
              3 months ago

              Consider they are almost certainly translating the comments here back to their language using AI which could lose nuance.

            • hoblik@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
              11·
              3 months ago

              I won’t argue with how you meant it. I had a feeling and I wrote it the way it sounded to me - if you say it was different, then fair enough, but the other side receives it the way they read it. That’s just how it goes, and it’s not an attack on you.

              And if some people here don’t like AI, I can’t help that. I came for advice, for solutions. I’m constantly learning, and I’d say that to anyone who wants to show they can make something. I’m a man who keeps learning - and the fact that I mentioned my grey hair and that I’m a carpenter, I’m proud of that. Proud that I made something I never studied in school.

              That’s the whole point for me: I respect people who have no idea what they’re walking into and end up doing it anyway - sometimes better than the experts who studied ten years. That person means more to me than someone with “engineer” in front of their name.

              I’m not hiding the AI under the rug. Everything I made, I made with AI. My ideas, my visions - it just helped turn them into something real.

              I don’t know you. Maybe you’re an engineer, a doctor, an astronaut - I’ve no idea. To me you’re a person I’m talking to, maybe on the other side of the planet, and what made that possible? AI. That’s the point. I’m not here to fight or wind people up. Let’s just live, not pick at each other over who does or doesn’t use a tool.

              If you don’t like it, that’s OK - we just say hi, goodbye, and our paths part. No hard feelings, and I mean that with a smile.

              One principle I hold: you never really know who you’re talking to. I could be a craftsman, a teacher, or a director at a big company. You never know when you might need the other person. And if anyone thinks chats are just a place to hide behind - that’s not my style.

              (Note: English isn’t my first language - I write in my own and AI helps me translate.)

                • hoblik@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
                  1·
                  3 months ago

                  You’re right, and I owe you an apology. My frustration in that earlier reply wasn’t aimed at you - it was about a pile of “you’re a bot / fraud” comments, and you got caught in the blast. That wasn’t fair. Your advice was genuine and useful, and you didn’t deserve to be lumped in with that.

                  The Matrix-server point is well taken, honestly. You’re right that I don’t have the experience to find and fix a bad crypto implementation alone - that’s exactly why an external review matters before I’d ever tell anyone to rely on it. I hear you.

                  Thanks for taking the time, twice. I mean that. Sorry it landed as a lecture - that’s on me.

                  (English isn’t my first language - AI helps me translate.) Sorry