Coyote Tracks

Jason McIntosh: Let's use rot13 for game spoilers →

Decades ago, users of the primordial internet fora known as Usenet made frequent use of [Rot13] to politely mask text that some people might not wish to read by accident, and popular news-reading software often made Rot13 cycling a one-command operation.

I have missed it. I love discussing games and novels and such with my friends on Twitter and other media, but I dislike how painfully general the public conversation must stay, as we all tiptoe around each others’ spoiler sensitivities even though many of us are eager to dive into details.

Jason makes a good case for the revival of this simple (if slightly arcane) lost art, although I suspect in practice it won’t be used by anyone too young to remember the days when Usenet was relevant.

1. inurashii reblogged this from jasonmcintosh and added:

   Honestly a simple link to rot13.com easily obviates any claim of opacity. 9 characters and no further explanation is...

2. jasonmcintosh reblogged this from chipotle and added:

   Not the first time I’ve heard that counterargument. I don’t think memory of Usenet is crucial to accepting this...

3. jasonmcintosh likes this
4. woelfisch said: The thing with caesar codes is — well, at some point I was able to read rot13ed texts without rotating them back. Not quickly, but it worked me. I’ve lost that ability again due to lack of use, though.
5. alittleheadache likes this
6. chipotle posted this