Tripcode

A special feature of Textboards and imageboards designed to let others know that you're a faggot.

After a # is detected in the name field, the next 8 characters are loaded into a special function called a "trapdoor cipher" ¹⁾ to produce a "hash" : information is easily passed through to produce a unique result that is very hard to reverse, unless conventional password cracking methods like dictionary attacks or brute force are attempted. For added security, a tripcode unique to the current board can be produced by either entering a ##password or a #tripcode#securetripcode .

The utility of tripcodes is that it allows someone to uniquely identify themselves in text / imageboard software and similar applications (like gikopoi) without requiring a user to formally sign up for an account. Because the tripcode algorithm is universal, you can use the same unique identity across multiple boards, software, and websites. The Western community generally is opposed to the use of tripcodes, though, considering the "true purpose" of Japanese-style BBSes to be the fact that users are Anonymous and can enjoy freedom from identity / "the right to vanish." For this reason, www.4channel.org and its family members frequently have a mode, Anonymize, that replaces all names & tripcodes with the simple "Anonymous", and may include boards with forced anonymity features.

def mk(pw):
    pw = pw[:8]                   # get the first 8 chars
    salt = (pw + "H.")[1:3]       # make the salt 
    trip = crypt.crypt(pw, salt)  # apply unix crypt()
    return trip[-10:]             # grab the last 10 chars of hash

See ctrlcctrlv/tripkeys for a more detailed explanation of this algorithm.

Todo: expand this list²⁾

• Tripphase - http://worrydream.com/tripphrase/ (archive)