Re: Frost and HashCash

On Sun, 16 May 2004 00:54:32 +0200, "David G."
<lordx84-/[email protected]> wrote:

>I don't know if this has been discussed already (probably has been), but 
>I think it might be a good idea to add HashCash support to the (ever 
>growing) TODO list.

	It is an interesting idea. However, as I have been saying as
of late every time someone suggests a new feature, do not hold your
breath for it. The TODO list, if unrolled, I think it could reach the
Moon from my home.

>The way I see it, it has two advantages and several drawbacks.
>
>Advantages:
>1. Will slow down spam. Need I say more?
>2. If a database of spent tokens is stored, then multi-posts caused by 
>various frost bugs will be ignored by frost since the token has been 
>spent. Not the main feature, but certainly a perk.

	Nice advantages. I don't see spam as a serious problem now,
but if Frost traffic increases in the future and spam gets a lot
worse, we could give priority to such an scheme.

	On the other hand, I don't think it would have any effect on
the ocasional obnoxious poster (like the ones that post ascii "art"),
because at this time, inserting a new message takes a long time, and
the required time for generating a new hash could be masked by it (at
least partially).

>Drawbacks:
>1. Will require a lot of coding.
>2. Will anger users. Both because they now have to generate a token for 
>each message, and because they have to upgrade. I also think that some 
>will be suspicious of the technology and claim back doors and such in 
>it. ("XML Backdoors")
>3. Will require higher-end machine on the user's end.

	If some people had problems understanding that the way we use
XML is completely harmless, I shudder at the task of having to explain
them that HashCash does not have anything to do with real cash.

	Kind regards.
-- 
Jose M. Arnesto
jarnesto-xUkTmfEnfrnb9gMhpR3k+RU5MjZjfwQ/[email protected]



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