I'm sorry, but this entire discussion is missing the point. "Security by obscurity" refers to the practice of keeping the implementation details hidden, not just the key. The Enigma machine was a great example of this: despite being very good for its time (for years, the Allies only ever managed to decipher a handful of mostly useless messages without knowing its interior workings), once they came into possession of one, they managed to find the fatal flaw in its design within weeks and were able to decrypt all further communication with relative ease. Modern algorithms like AES, RSA, ECC, etc. don't have this issue — their designs have been openly published for decades, and yet no viable attack has been found that beats random guessing. OF COURSE they still involve the use of obscurity, if you will, because the protection offered by the algorithm is only as strong as the key is secret. But, unlike with the Enigma, the key is the only part that has to be kept a secret.

I really hope I’m not being annoying, because I appreciate the work that you do, but I also seem to have a talent for finding bugs. Here’s one: on the iOS app, when you tap on a note to open it (so you can read the comments, perhaps), the on-screen keyboard immediately pops up, obscuring at least 1/3rd of the entire screen (which I’d rather use to read the note or comments). This appears to be because Nostrich programmatically focuses the comment input box as soon as the note opens. Should be an easy fix that would improve usability tremendously. Also, perhaps a good chance to flex those OTA updates 😉

Thankfully that works out of the box already: you can simply tap "Use a remote signer" and if you have Clave installed, it will open automatically. https://clave.casa

There is no easy way to say this, but uh, this isn't the same codebase that's currently running on the live site, is it? The icons look slightly different, and it's missing several key features (such as campaigns and spaces) currently available in the official build. In fact, it does not even have a dark mode. Oh, and for extra funsies, the build system somehow manages to break my terminal EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Did you guys accidentally upload a pre-release version of your codebase, or what am I missing here? If you're not yet ready to make your code public, that's fine with me — but personally, I'd rather wait a few more weeks than wasting my time with something like this.

But how many credits did you spend doing all that?

Well, I suppose the real question you'll have to answer is "what's the point?" — what exactly is permissionless, anonymous, globally relayed chat good for? For BT meshing, I can see a potential use case, but that's because it's hyperlocal and therefore much more difficult to spam. And I suppose as a transport layer for Nymbot, relayed Bitchat has utility as well. But apart from that, what problem does it solve that isn't adequately served by alternatives like Concord that at least require a persistent identity to use, and allow for chatrooms to be moderated?

Better yet, delete your government.

Okay, but what about standard emoji reacts? Also, I think this feature should be easier to discover. If you hadn't told me how it works, I would have never found it.

Okay, but when are we gonna be able to use them in kind 7 reactions? I really hope that feature is coming soon.

The one that prompted to implement georelays last year? I do. I mean, as annoying as it is, he IS doing everyone a favor by demonstrating how easy it is to abuse the protocol if you have ill intent, and he is spending his own money to do so. While I suppose it probably hasn't cost him more than a couple hundred bucks in AI credits and VPS hosting to do so, consider the implication if a state actor decided to shut it down. They could simply spam every channel with hundreds of fake discussions disseminating propaganda, fake news, and whatnot. The only way to avoid that would be using persistent identities and filtering out anyone who's not on your contact list, or relying on Bluetooth meshing exclusively.