PREV_HASHthe Satoshi investigation
The list behind the first message
This block does not analyse a document by Satoshi. It is background — without it the choice of addressee cannot be judged. The Cryptography list hosted at metzdowd.com continued an older list of the same name and was moderated by Perry Metzger. It was not a forum of enthusiasts or a place for announcements. Specialists read it, and proposals were taken apart there without indulgence. One technical detail matters to the investigation: the list was moderated. A message had to pass a human being before reaching subscribers. The author therefore accepted the possibility that his project might not be let through at all — and still chose this place over a channel where anyone can publish without permission.
a moderated specialist list, not an open forum
a few hundred subscribers, among them people with real track records
public archives — readable also by non-subscribers
the convention of review: substantive criticism, not enthusiasm
We record three facts: the author knew this list existed, knew its register well enough to write in its convention, and accepted the risk of moderation. We do not record that he was a subscriber, that he knew the moderator, or that he belonged to that milieu — there is no evidence for any of it.