[lucideer]

> leaks information

It would have to leak sensitive information to be "subtracting security", which implies you're relying on timestamp secrecy to ensure your security. This would be one of the "other problems" the gp mentioned.

[atomicnumber3]

Pretty much any information can be used for something. You're ignoring everything they say about how something not critical to application security may still not be desirable to be leaked for other reasons. Example: Target and Walmart may not depend on satellites being unable to image their parking lots from the perspective of loss prevention or corporate security. But it still leaks information they may not want financial analysts to know about their performance.

[lucideer]

You've used an analogy instead of an example to demonstrate your point: analogies can be helpful for explaining concepts but are rarely accurate enough to prove logical parity.

It would be much easier to discuss the merits of your argument if you had an example of the dangers of leaking creation timestamps for database entries.

Otherwise, carparks & database creation timestamps have nothing in common that is meaningfully relevant to your argument. You cannot just generalise all worldly concepts & call it a day.

[atomicnumber3]

The other post literally mentions using creation timestamps to judge growth rates of companies on a platform.

My analogy was meant for a reader with a modicum of ability to connect dots to better interpret the parent and aunt/uncle replies.

[lucideer]

> a reader with a modicum of ability to connect dots

Genuinely, without any snark intended: please presume I'm an idiot here because I fully acknowledge I may be missing something blatantly obvious & am just trying to understand your argument better.

> The other post

> the parent and aunt/uncle replies.

I've gone & re-read the parent / grand parent replies in this thread on the assumption I had missed something but I can't find any reference to estimating growth rates of online companies via publicly exposed db record timestamps.

Nor can I conceive of an obvious system in my head by which one would do so. I acknowledge that such a hypothetical system almost certainly exists, but it seems non-obvious (to me) & as such it's quite difficult to reason about & discuss.

[chistev]

I like you. Lol

[limagnolia]

Sam Walton used to fly investors in his plane over Walmart stores and ask them to count the cars in the parking lot, then he would fly them over competitors stores and ask the same. Just a fun fact about how this is a very real scenario!