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.
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.)
I think you'll find I didn't accuse you of trying to deceive anyone, I just suggested that you not gloss over using AI in your projects. Because yes, in my experience people here take it very badly if it looks like you're trying to present AI generated work as your own (note: that doesn't have to be your intent, it just has to look like it was). I was trying to be helpful, and as far as I can see my wording and tone were mild, so I see no reason that my comment should have made you feel unwelcome. The more fool me for the attempt, I guess.
Consider they are almost certainly translating the comments here back to their language using AI which could lose nuance.
I considered it, and the point stands. I came here offering advice - good advice, grounded in two decades of IT career, because nobody who cares about security rolls their own app with encryption unless they know what they're doing. There's too much risk of a bad implementation and leaving holes for bad actors to find.
They can just do what I do and use AI to set up their Matrix server. I set it up before AI was a thing too, but it's so much faster now. That uses a lot less tokens, too. But they don't seem particularly interested in actually taking advice onboard, so I'm not holding my breath.
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.)
You asked for criticism and advice, and that's exactly what I offered. It's based on my own experience here. I was offering it to be helpful. Just what exactly are you trying to achieve with this response? Because yeah, I'm not getting attacked, I'm getting lectured. For offering advice when it was solicited.
I'm certain you don't see the problem here, so I'm out. But for the love of Christ, just use AI to set up, harden, and manage a Matrix server instead of wasting tokens building your own application. You'll end up with something much more secure than an app with a possibly-bad crypto implementation that you don't have the experience to see, find, or fix.
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