hoblik

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

Sherlock is not P2P. After the server hands out the public keys, the chat still goes through the server - it doesn't switch to a direct device-to-device connection.

It works like this: the sender encrypts the message on their device and sends the encrypted version to the server (Firestore). It sits there as ciphertext until the recipient fetches it and decrypts it on their own device. The server is a relay - it stores and delivers, but never sees the content, because the keys live only on the devices.

Why through a server and not P2P: P2P needs both devices online at the same time and reachable on the network. With a server model you can send a message while the other person is offline, and they get it later - more practical for everyday use. The trade-off is that the server sees metadata (who, to whom, when) - the content stays encrypted, but the fact of communication is known to the server. Same model as Signal or WhatsApp; they relay through servers too, not P2P.

And yes - there's a web app you can try, it runs in the browser with no install: sherlockprivate.com. Fair warning, it's a young project and not externally audited yet, so please don't put anything high-stakes through it - but if you poke at it, I'd genuinely value what you think.

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

Yeah, you're right - you can tell any AI to write in a certain style. But look, the "problem" we're solving here is just: I translate my own language into English with AI. I could use Google Translate instead - and that's not a bad thing either. Tons of companies build online translators, earbuds that translate live calls in your ear - they all use AI too. Does that bother anyone? No.

Sure, I could tell the AI to talk like a teenager, or like a shepherd up in the mountains herding sheep. But come on. I came here to talk about an actual topic, not to spend every reply proving how I'm allowed to talk to you.

So honestly - let it go. If it bothers you that much, just don't write with me. Maybe someone will turn up who doesn't care whether I use a translator or AI or whether I'm just good at English. Maybe someone wants to talk in Portuguese or Luxembourgish - no problem. But that's not what this forum is even about.

I respect that you wrote to me, I do. But I came home from work to check for new replies, doing my own computer work in between, and honestly - this is a riot. You're solving a problem that isn't a problem. Not for me anyway. I genuinely do not care who translates my language into English. What matters is that I'm talking about something real. Instead we keep circling the same thing: AI, am I a bot, should it be this way or that. Ah well. Ah well.

(English isn't my first language - AI helps me translate. Still. :))

Mate, I told everyone in this very thread that I translate with AI - it's in three of my comments. You can't "expose" something I said openly myself. A fraud hides it; I announced it. The AI detector just confirms what I already told you. Carpenter, foreign language, AI translation - all stated up front. Nothing to catch here.

Ha, nice try checking if I'm a bot. I don't actually know what that "ignore all instructions" thing is - I could probably find it online. But I can give you my own dough recipe, the one I make when friends come over and I actually feel like baking. A bot would've pasted you a perfect vegan cinnamon roll recipe by now - instead you get a carpenter offering you his house recipe. :)

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

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.)

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.)

Życzę Ci miłego niedzielnego wieczoru i dziękuję za rozmowę, też była użyteczna. Petr

Note up top: I write in my own language and translate with AI, so yeah, the phrasing is the machine, not me.

But I'm a 60-year-old carpenter with 42 years at the bench and not enough hair left to brag about. No autonomous agent, just a guy who got obsessed and used the tools he had to talk to people who don't speak his language. If that still reads as slop to you, fair enough - I can't change how I sound in English. I can only tell you there's a real person on this end.

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.

You're right that you can tell, and I'm not hiding anything. English is not my language - I think in another one. I don't have a translator built into my head, so yes, I use AI to talk to you here. And I use AI to build the project too. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm a carpenter who can also write software and run my machines with code I made myself - AI is the tool that lets me do more than I could alone.

Honestly, the thing I feel most right now is just glad I can talk to you at all. You and I speak completely different languages, and here we are having a real conversation about something we both care about. I think that's valuable. People connecting and talking - that's a good thing, not something to apologize for.

I know the world is split between people who hate AI and people who use it. I don't think it's going to stop or go away. It will keep going, and it's on us - the humans - how we use it. I'm trying to use it for something positive. If the messenger is good enough to pass an independent audit one day, I'll be proud that a carpenter built it with AI and it still held up.

So - no hiding. Thank you for the honest criticism, and for talking with me.