NAVIGATION

[ataraxicommunicator]

All information in this community is obsolete, with the exception of this inbox code and the following information for people who play characters who work on the network crew. Anything else has been left for player reference, but is not otherwise relevant to the current situation in the game.





How the Digital Network works

User-end information is located here: the information people need to know about using the network.

What follows in this post is information for people whose characters work on the network crew itself.

Most decisions about the network have been made with two ideas in mind. We did not design the original Tranquility system: the game's various mod teams did. It was a government/military creation, fairly serious and bare-bones -- entertainment options were limited and simple in comparison to what's available for smartphones in the real world.

When the network crew adapted the existing network for use after the crash, they started with the systems they had and only changed as much as they had to to make it usable. Resources have been limited, so bandwidth is now also a concern.

Programming: Runs off the ship's network architecture, but had to be significantly hacked due to how much of the original security protocols relied on nanites and passenger identification numbers. It now relies only on user-generated password security plus encrypted transmissions. An encrypted login info database and a login challenge system were both created. They are set up so that network workers cannot access the database to learn the passwords of other users -- they can only help reset.

All encryption should be assumed to be fairly strong, since it was built off of a 99.99% unhackable setup (the one that was dropped onto the network in November of 2014). The original hack took several people several months with a lot more equipment and processing power than is available in the camp. The encryption style is now somewhat broken because the nanite identity check component has been removed from it, but messages are still extremely difficult to hack (a single message will still take a best-of-the-best hacker at least a day to decode, and more casual hackers will not be able to do it at all).

Accounts and passwords: A change in username essentially involves wiping the account and reinstalling the communicator's operating system, or just issuing a new device. This is a legacy of how devices were previously locked to nanite security and passenger number, and has several implications:

• Users cannot change account names on their own (i.e. it's not like the way Tumblr allows frequent URL changes and Plurk allows the use of different display names).


• Joke usernames are discouraged: changing an account name is an annoyance to staff and can't just be done in ten seconds. (It's not a problem that a lot of joke usernames are running around, and that staff is responsible for some of them. The only problem is if staff inputs a joke username with the rationale that it's super easy to change, because they would know that it's not.)

A reminder to change passwords is handwaved as being sent out monthly.

Private messages between users are automatically encrypted.
Character inboxes are located on their network devices and are not archived on the network's servers. Inbox messages are direct device-to-device messages that only travel through the network. They are treated as automatically private, and protected by encryption during transit.

The network range is expanded by network nodes. The entire tether range should pretty much have network access, which can be expanded as the tether expands. The nodes are small platforms in the trees with a router secured to them which has been shielded from the weather. The platforms incorporate solar panels to power the routers. The number is immaterial; there are "enough." They may need periodic maintenance or replacement.

The entire network itself is also encrypted in transit. For comparison, think of private messages as using something like PGP encryption, while network traffic encryption is more like high security on your home router.

Network hut:

• Made of ship panels and tent materials for weatherproofing.


• Not huge, but large enough for 2 workers and a visitor.


• Includes a terminal that exists solely for access to the archives of the Tranquility network.


• Priority is to keep the interior of the hut as clean, dry, and cool as possible.


• Consoles overheating is a concern, so there's some kind of advanced cooling apparatus whipped up by Leo Fitz that keeps the room at a comfortable temperature. (We don't really know what these look like, or how they work, but they fit in the room and they fill their function.)


• The room has a few comfortable chairs on wheels that were retrieved from old Comms.


Programming routines: there are code snippets around, as well as some very basic mobile games that have been made over time (things like Snake or Minesweeper or Klondike Solitaire, nothing specific). There are no graphics programs apart from the camera app in the communicator itself, and there are no Google Docs-like capabilities.
There is also Spunes (music player app and music which can be downloaded to a communicator during a visit to the network hut or shared between characters file by file). There's no real list of music, except what was played during the "Heatherlands" wedding in Feb 2015 and several classic jazz tracks left by Auggie in the fall of 2012.

Equipment: Kept in crates or storage bins or etc, there's a reasonable amount of cables and small electronics components around; also plenty of the radio components that fell from the sky during a Fall 2015 jump.

What staff does:




• Monitor and repair servers, consoles, etc in network hut


• Distribute devices


• Set up accounts for characters who are not technically savvy and/or want help (remote account creation is available for everyone and is the preferred method)


• Retrieve devices from dropped characters where possible (scavenge through their stuff or ask their friends for help)


• Reformat devices for reuse, including transfering or archiving files that may be important to the user (images related to the metaplot, etc).


• Ensure that useful information is archived


• Monitor old TQ network archives


• Monitor network nodes for downtime (in other words, keep the network up and running)


• Program fun new things?


• Help with Spunes downloads as needed (unless one character takes over curation)


• "Troubleshooting"


• Other things as they come up!


Jobs: Anyone can hypothetically join, pending approval by network admins, but there is a strong preference for people who have technical ability and coding experience, particularly in Python. On-the-job learning is less feasible in this situation than it was in Comms on the Tranquility, because the nature of the work itself has changed.

Network volunteers can also have other jobs, since access is no longer restricted to people who have Comms nanites.

Admin privileges: There are access levels that restrict certain functions to users with high-level permissions, which is a fancy way of saying that you can't delete or alter anything major if you aren't one of the current network admins (L Lawliet or Bail Organa at this writing, and whoever takes the position in the future when that becomes relevant). New workers generally aren't trusted with much access, but are able to monitor the system for downtime and to add to archives.

Finally, there are times when players whose characters are network crew members may seem like Johnny No-Fun in terms of discussions of the way things are or work. This is because most network setup details are pretty technical in a cut-and-dried way -- it's science fiction, not magic, so there isn't a ton of room for interpretation in every area (even the magic mirrors, which are not "ours" per se but a contribution by the Harry Potter cast, work in a specific way). We tried to leave room for interpretation where we could or where it made sense, but still have a vague obligation to straighten out technical misunderstandings, esp since most of the limits were imposed by the mods.