[openssl-users] How to form a proper hash after writing somethinginto SSL handshake.

[Michael Wojcik]

> From: openssl-users [mailto:openssl-users-bounces at openssl.org] On Behalf
> Of Viktor Dukhovni
> Sent: Friday, December 29, 2017 13:04
> 
> > On Dec 29, 2017, at 12:34 PM, Richard Levitte <levitte at openssl.org> wrote:
> >
> > Marty, you might want to consider that the values of western society
> > are hardly universal.  Comic Sans isn't as badly seen everywhere, and
> > there's no reason why western society biases should trump any other.
> 
> My issue with the post was that it was just too difficult to read,
> largely as a result of the font.  So I just deleted it and moved on.
> So this has little to do with Western vs. non-Western values.  Written
> communication is most clear when the fonts don't get in the way of the
> content.  Decorative fonts are for party announcements and the like,
> usually in large print on physical posters.

Indeed. This has little to do with "the values of western society", or the values of any other community. (Nor, with apologies to Richard, does it have much to do with the OpenSSL mailing-list code of conduct; the messages on this topic have ranged from curt to civil, but none have been abusive under any reasonable definition.)

It has to do with appealing to the intended audience, which of course is one of the most critical aspects of writing. I could cite thousands of years of rhetorical theory - from cultures European and otherwise - but this is such a commonplace that there's no need. Marty's message was a useful, generous, and polite response to Saiteja's query. And while his examples were culturally specific, his argument was not.

That said, I suspect the larger reason why Saiteja has not had a technical response to the original query is that few people on openssl-users have experience with using the WPACKET API and other low-level operations in the 1.1 codebase. It still might be worth reposting without the controversial styling.

-- 
Michael Wojcik 
Distinguished Engineer, Micro Focus