[Retros] The Vault
Andrew Buchanan
andrew at anselan.com
Sat Jun 22 15:22:51 EDT 2013
I agree with Noam & Bernd.
I am wondering if the following site can provide a free solution for us:
http://www.itconsult.co.uk/stamper/stampinf.htm
and in particular:
http://www.itconsult.co.uk/stamper/post.htm
So when submitting a composition to a tourney, one could send an email with the following kind of body to 'post at stamper.itconsult.co.uk':
X-Stamper-To: my-email at my-provider.com
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR
Thanks
The subject line can be anything.
It seems very basic, and might be what we are looking for. I tried it just now and it took about 40 minutes to come back to me through Outlook. This SLA is a bit longer than I would like, but it’s workable.
I can now take the email I’ve received from stamper and include that as an attachment in my submission to the tourney director. So now both the tourney director and myself have a time-stamped record. We don’t have access to the archive (it is truly opaque) but if one of the two of us edits the email, then the other knows it’s a fraud.
I don’t think it’s fool-proof, but I think it could provide sufficient protection for our purposes. I don’t think that it’s worth having digital signature or encryption. That’s too complicated.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Andrew.
From: retros-bounces at janko.at [mailto:retros-bounces at janko.at] On Behalf Of "Bernd Gräfrath"
Sent: 23 June 2013 00:02
To: The Retrograde Analysis Mailing List
Subject: [Retros] The Vault
Dear Noam,
please excuse my technical non-expertise! I do not know how to choose a particular e-mail-format: I just click the buttons for writing a new e-mail or for answering one which I have received.
You are right: It would be the fairest solution if actual priority of composing could be ascertained. Unfortunately, there are practical obstacles. I remember (from reading) big controversies which were discussed in FEENSCHACH in the 1970s. Several composers were working on tasks and records, and one composer had a journal of which he himself was the editor; and it seems that he went so far as to back-date his issues in order to achieve priority. Such a person could, of course, not be trusted with claims about when he composed/received a particular problem.
I can only think of one possible solution for this (which today might still sound like science fiction): The trusted WFCC could have an opaque archive for pre-publications, which could be called "The Vault". (Yes, I have been watching a lot of Seinfeld episodes recently!) The publication in a magazine would still let the problem be an original; and in cases when priority is disputed after publication, then the Vault is examined for the problems in question. This solution would also make long delays in the publication of a magazine easier to bear.
Best wishes,
Bernd
Gesendet: Samstag, 22. Juni 2013 um 17:20 Uhr
Von: "Noam Elkies" <elkies at math.harvard.edu>
An: retros at janko.at
Betreff: Re: [Retros] More Dupont-"originals"
Bernd <retromode at web.de> wrote:
> <html><head></head><body><div style="font-family: Verdana;font-size: 12.0px;"><div>
> <div>Dear Nicolas (and dear FIDE-Album-collaborators),</div> [...]
[Can you please send e-mail in plain text, not HTML? not everybody
reads their e-mail in a browser. Anyway...]
> [...] I believe you that you did not choose the "pre-publication"
> as a priority-protection; but others might want to use it that way;
> and that should not be encouraged.
On the other hand, if two or more composers achieved the same task
independently, why *should* "priority" be determined by journal
publication, which includes various random delays beyond the
author's control? Scientific journals often give submission and
revision dates for each published paper, which can be used to
determine *actual* priority, and in general to have a more precise
historical record. Problem journals could do the same thing.
--Noam D. Elkies
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