For your eyes ONLY

Burn before reading

Whoops, sorry. PRINT, then burn before reading

A little-known E2 secret is how to /msg someone a secret message. Obviously, you can't just have your secret message displayed on the recipient's VDU, in plain sight for any enemy who chances by to see.

No, the secret of concealment is concealment. And I'm glad to say that Everything2 supports this feature, with a secret feature of the /msg command. Let's say you want to /msg idoether the secret message "attack at dawn" (if you wanted to send it to JayFez, it would have to be "ATTACH AT DAWN!!!", but the principle remains the same). Type this into your chatterbox:

/msg idoether <attack at dawn>Your last writeup was terrible!
Your correspondent will receive this message:
Your last writeup was terrible!
Voila! Nothing at all for the enemy to read! No clumsy encryption schemes (or scams)! No danger of RSA being cracked within the next 5 years, and your message being revealed to all.

This is really steganography at its best.


I'm leaving decoding the secret message to your imagination.


Well, well, well. Time for Freud to take out his little tweezers and squeeze this idea for some timely advice to young messagers. And, remember: Even a broken clock is correct at least twice a day.

It often happens that when one is involved in a private conversation in the catbox, the most lurid and provocative /msg gets placed in public view. How can this happen, you ask? Surely it was just an accident?

There are no accidents.

When you cannot find your keys, it is a signal that your unconscious mind really didn't want to leave the house. When you leave your Algebra book at school, it was your unconscious mind telling you that studying for that test was going to keep you from doing something more worthwhile. When you forget to use a condom, well . . . Let's just say that one is Life's way of making sure Life remains a viable force.

(And, if you don't think Life is a pretty viable force, take a look at a patch of grass growing in a sidewalk. Or take a look at all the nodes on here about sex.)

So, what can we now say about these private messages which show up in public view? I think the conclusion is clear. You were so insecure about the message that your unconscious mind wanted you to put said message in public view so that you would then be ridiculed by the entire populace. You desired punishment for harboring these evil thoughts.

I hope that clears this up. You may pay the receptionist on your way back to noding.

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