Nico's blog

MWL's wise advice on opinions

I'm reading Michael W Lucas "Run Your Own Email Server", and one paragraph in his introduction struck me as very wise.

Context

Michael is talking about using TLS in the context of mail servers (which is different than client-facing systems), and explains that there are 3 groups:

• one that prioritises broad compatibility (deprecated TLS / weak ciphers is still better than falling back to plain text),
• one that prioritises transport integrity (use DANE or MTA-STS, and only accept TLS 1.2 and 1.3),
• and one that things email is not secure anyway, so if you want privacy you should send physical postcards.

MWL's advice

Quoting WML:

You must understand which group you fall into, and recognize that other
groups have different requirements.

This. Hundred. Per. Cent.

Everyone usually thinks their opinion is the best, and that others should just think likewise. Which of course is never gonna work.

Recognising that your requirements are different than others is super important, and will avoid going into a useless "war" against others - which is a waste of time.

Tags: Books