pull down to refresh
:)
The list’s name itself was a playful jab-coined by Jude Milhon during an early meeting by mashing "cipher" with "cyberpunk." Members embraced the term, even as outsiders often misheard it as "cyberpunks" or "cipher punks" (leading to confused questions about whether they were hacking gangs or punk bands).
The absurdity peaked when debates about anonymous remailers or digital cash would spiral into Shakespearean flame wars, with members using encryption jargon as verbal weaponry. One archived thread shows a user sarcastically proposing to "encrypt my cat" to prove a point about privacy-a nod to the list’s blend of tech idealism and chaotic humor.
It was digital rebellion meets inbox terrorism, proving even privacy activists couldn’t escape internet trolls.
youhouu
No. Tldr
youhouu
Yes
youhouu
youhouu
In the mid-1990s, the mailing list became a tool for prank mailbombing. Trolls would subscribe unsuspecting victims to the list, flooding their inboxes with hundreds of daily messages debating encryption algorithms, libertarian politics, and abstract rants about digital privacy. One sysop joked that the deluge of messages-often including heated arguments about PGP keys or rants against the NSA-was so overwhelming that recipients would beg to be unsubscribed. The chaos forced the list’s administrators to implement a "reply-to-subscribe" system to deter mischief-makers.