• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge #140 - "Nameless"

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Ashes

Banned
Elfforkusu said:
Clearly the submissions should be implemented via onion routing.

Aaron chooses a path of users from himself to Cyan, picking three fellow users. Call them Alice, Bob, and Eve.

The path is:
Aaron -> Alice -> Bob -> Eve -> Cyan

Aaron encrypts his story using Cyan's public key, then encrypts THAT with Bob's public key, then encrypts THAT with Alice's. At each hop, the receiver of the encrypted story decrypts the message with their private key, and receives the (still mostly encrypted) story, as well as directions as to who to forward it to next. Finally, it gets to Cyan, who decrypts it back to its initial contents with his private key.

* Cyan knows that he received a story from Eve.
* Eve knows she received a story from Bob, and that she is the last in the chain.
* Bob knows that he received a story from Alice, and that he is not the last in the chain.
* Alice knows that she received a story from Aaron, and that she is not the last in the chain.

Easy!
Click to expand...

All that effort just to be a dick? I hope you're laughing your ass off.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Elfforkusu said:
I don't think there's any problem with a trusted party (Cyan) knowing who the submitters are. So just send it to Cyan.
Click to expand...

The idea wasn't about an extra layer of anonymity per se. I thought it would be fun if Cyan played too. More about inclusiveness than anything else.
 
E

Elfforkusu

Member
Thinking about it, all we really need to achieve both complete anonymity AND enforcement of normal rules is a single contact who isn't participating this round. Everybody would send their stories to this volunteer (who could also tally votes, or simply verify that no shenanigans were going on), who could then forward them onward to Cyan.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Cyan said:
The NSA will be reading all our stories anyway, so maybe it should be them!
Click to expand...

On that note, fyi, I don't use my password, cause its my favourite password in the whole wide world, it is, but I changed from using the one everyone else uses cause Aaron posts it under a spoiler. I feel stupid for using such a redundant password. Why have it? And if you're going to display it, why spoiler tag it?
 
N

Nezumi

Member
I think the problem with Ashes method is that it sounds like it would be hell to organize especially if you take into account that every challenge we have some new folks. How does one person know who to send their story to and all that.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
I was thinking we could go with elf's idea and send it to another mod; Dresden came to mind. But I haven't read a Dresden story or poem in absolute ages, and if I pester him about it he'll just use this as an excuse not to write a story yet again. Crow, who did this last time, might have been a good choice, but he doesn't even seem to need an excuse to not write, so I don't want to give him an excuse on a platter.

I don't think it matters all that much, considering that Cyanship will strike sooner or later.


edit:
email.
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Another option could be just doing what ronito did with the confession thread. Cyan sets up an email account anonymous.writing@hotmail or something like that and everyone sends their stories to this address from a similar anonymous account. The downside would be that most of us would probably need to create said account first, but to be fair it doesn't take terribly long.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
Nezumi said:
Another option could be just doing what ronito did with the confession thread. Cyan sets up an email account anonymous.writing@hotmail.com or something like that. And everyone sends their stories to this address from a similar anonymous account. The downside would be that most of us would probably need to create said account first, but to be fair it doesn't take terribly long.
Click to expand...

We should encrypt all our submissions though, and send the encryption keys a second anonymous email account. That way, if one of the anonymous email accounts are breached by non-Gaffers, they won't be able to steal our works as they'll be left with either gibberish or keys without locks.

Of course this also means the person in charge of teh two anonymous accounts will have to test each key with each encrypted key, as they won't know which key corresponds to which submissions.
 
N

Nezumi

Member
SquiddyCracker said:
We should encrypt all our submissions though, and send the encryption keys a second anonymous email account. That way, if one of the anonymous email accounts are breached by non-Gaffers, they won't be able to steal our works as they'll be left with either gibberish or keys without locks.

Of course this also means the person in charge of teh two anonymous accounts will have to test each key with each encrypted key, as they won't know which key corresponds to which submissions.
Click to expand...

I didn't think my suggestion was this outlandish :(
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Nezumi said:
Another option could be just doing what ronito did with the confession thread. Cyan sets up an email account anonymous.writing@hotmail or something like that and everyone sends their stories to this address from a similar anonymous account. The downside would be that most of us would probably need to create said account first, but to be fair it doesn't take terribly long.
Click to expand...

No need: https://www.silentsender.com/

& unlike my own, some people's email addresses won't give away who they are, so I presume their email addresses will be fine. :p
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Nezumi said:
You can't send attachments via this website though, or am I just being blind? Though we could just copy the whole story in there I guess, since Cyan has to adjust the layout anyway.
Click to expand...

Post it like we do here on gaf. I guess if Cyan really wanted, he could just use our dropbox accounts to trace us back.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Ashes said:
What's the point of gaming the system? To win a GAF thread #140? & results in the end would spoil any plot anyway.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying anyone would do it or there would be a point, I'm just trying to follow the logic and apply it to an anonymous system.
It's just seems a bit overly complex.
 
C

Chainsawkitten

Member
I'll just set up a web page where people can upload files without signing up. Then people upload through proxy. Then, to ensure no one recognizes anyone's writing, I'll rewrite each story. I then set up a site on freenet where people will have to download the entries from. The identifier to that site will be shared on a password-protected IRC channel at a specific time (the link will not be available in any directory). The password to the IRC-channel can be received through PM. Another user holds the information of what the channel is and yet another user knows which server it is hosted on. Quote this post to reveal information on how to acquire the passwords for the PDF files.

 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Chainsawkitten said:
I'll just set up a web page where people can upload files without signing up. Then people upload through proxy. Then, to ensure no one recognizes anyone's writing, I'll rewrite each story. I then set up a site on freenet where people will have to download the entries from. The identifier to that site will be shared on a password-protected IRC channel at a specific time (the link will not be available in any directory). The password to the IRC-channel can be received through PM. Another user holds the information of what the channel is and yet another user knows which server it is hosted on. Quote this post to reveal information on how to acquire the passwords for the PDF files.

Click to expand...
I think you'll need to send out some RSA tokens, too. Just to be sure.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
I, for one, find it suspicious that Cyan is the sole mod presiding over these threads.

What is he hiding?
Where are the other mods?
Why have no one denied the allegations regarding the Shadow Council Reptiloid intervention?

Wake up, sheeple!
Smell the roses, they are fake and tinted with the drab colors of reality.
 
E

esterk

Member
SquiddyCracker said:
I, for one, find it suspicious that Cyan is the sole mod presiding over these threads.

What is he hiding?
Where are the other mods?
Why have no one denied the allegations regarding the Shadow Council Reptiloid intervention?

Wake up, sheeple!
Smell the roses, they are fake and tinted with the drab colors of reality.
Click to expand...
tumblr_inline_n2tbqnfEqV1qhyh96.gif
 
G

GRW810

Member
Can't we just print out our stories and post them to a neutral location for Cyan to collect, open, type out manually and upload?

Or we could throw our entries into the ocean via the message a bottle delivery method and hope, in desperation, that the waves carry our yarns to the nearest shoreline to Cyan.

Morse code?

Some signals?
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Tangent said:
This is from the last thread. But anyway, I agree with Cyan's feedback: "You never know why a piece doesn't get votes." If you try something different just for the sake of votes, then it seems like you've certainly learned the "system" or "formula." But I think that the risks you take in varying up your writing style are more commendable than the route of a safe ticket to lots of votes. And, your efforts will probably make you a better writer at a more exponential pace than if you just tried to gain votes with a "formula." Even if you had the best story ever, it might get few votes based on people's personal preferences, but that doesn't speak at all about your story. I'm sure everyone tries to vote objectively and not be biased towards writing styles, content, etc. But naturally, that is hard.
Click to expand...

Ourobolus said:
I understand that. I'm not really changing things around just to get votes, but it is a little irritating that it really is difficult to understand why something wasn't working. Honestly, with the idea I came up with for this one, I won't be changing too much, just trying to do better. I certainly haven't tried to conform to a formula...clearly, or else my stories would all be set in space or dystopian future, with people dying (and/or being spirits), and a twist ending :p.
Click to expand...

I'm all for anything that motivates you to write better. But chasing votes doesn't have a specific goal in mind. Try discounting a few challenges and going for something specific such as hey, I'd like my characters to have a lot of depth. Or hey, I'd really like to be able to tell my story better. Or hey, how about trying to figure out how to deliver my punch lines better? etc...
 
N

Nezumi

Member
For once I have managed to start my story early and not 5 hours before the deadline. Who knows, since I have already started to change patterns I might actually revise this one a couple of times...
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Note to self: if you are depressed and whiny (and possibly drunk), don't post in the thread. :/

Oh well, almost finished with this one...here we go!
 
N

Nezumi

Member
Seriously how does kaepernickehs manage to get banned on a weekly basis. Everytime he comes into this challenge he is banned within days.
 
G

GRW810

Member
Got a first draft down on paper. Usually my first draft is also my last, hurriedly finished as the deadline shrinks in the rearview mirror. Hey, maybe I'll have a chance to really work on it and produce something worth reading.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Would you guys like to participate in a little community-driven gaming challenge?
15
1K
DelireMan7 replied
Neogaf GOTY 2022 | Free upgrade for all platforms | Release Notes v1.0
43
4K
gunstarhero replied
  • Locked
NeoGAF GOTY 2021 |OT| Voting thread (Up: Closed)
|OT| 2
86
11K
PharaoTutAnchAmun replied
Lara Croft Crowned Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time, According to BAFTA Poll
2 3 4 5
208
10K
ResurrectedContrarian replied
Ken Kutaragi is the Greatest 'emperor' Of All Time and remains SIE's only true visionary
Opinion 2 3
112
6K
nial replied
Top Bottom