FAQ - MarbleBox
How do I create a new box?
Every time you visit the homepage a new box is created for you. Follow the link to the new box and bookmark it so that you don't lose it. Create as many boxes as you want.What content is not allowed?
Doxing is not allowed, not even self-doxing, unless the personal information is already available on more popular websites. Anything illegal in the USA is not allowed. Spam is not allowed. Commercial advertisement is not allowed outside of the CommercialAds box. Excessive out-of-topic discussion in named boxes is not allowed. Repeat offenses may result in increased proof-of-work requirements for your IP.I lost the link to my box, can I recover it?
No, sorry. If you lost your box link, you lost access to it forever.Someone found the key to my box. Now what?
Consider it useless as they can nuke it over and over. Make a new box.How can other users send me messages?
Your box is associated with a unique ID. You need to give this ID to other users. Then they need to create their own box and send you a message from it.I don't know anyone, how can I talk to new people?
First create an box and bookmark it. Then use the "Send a public message" link in your box and announce yourself. Your message will be posted in the public box which can be accessed from the homepage. There you can also find out the IDs of other users. You can also visit some of the named boxes on the front page.Why do I wait before being able to send a message?
This is our proof-of-work algorithm. You CPU is doing some useless work with the only purpose to reduce the speed at which spammers can send messages. If you allow it to reach 100% the solution will be stored in your browser and will be valid for one use within 8 hours.Are you mining crypto with my CPU?
No. The proof-of-work algorithm we use is unique to this website and is not used by any cryptocurrency.Does this website provide privacy/security/encryption?
tl;dr No. You should rely on your own encryption and privacy tools.This service is designed so that other users cannot guess your box key unless they hack the server somehow. Other than that, no guarantees about security or privacy are provided. Even if we did client-side encryption, you'd have to trust our word every time you visit that we haven't compromised it since the last time you visited. So, in general, it's good to consider all websites as non-encrypted unless you install some non-self-updatable browser extension that verifies that the JavaScript client-side encryption of the website is still in place. Always use your own encryption if you need it. Similarly, you should use Tor or a VPN if you don't want us to have access to your IP.
What are named boxes?
They are boxes with an easy to remember link that can be used as a place where multiple users post their messages. To create one just pick a name (eg: cars) and visit the named box cars from the homepage. Named boxes can be used to hold discussions around specific subjects. If you make a new one don't forget to post about it in the public box.Can I add formatting to my messages?
Other than newlines, none. Although the website will detect valid user IDs in your messages and prepend them with the user's avatar.What's the maximum message size?
5KiB. But there is also a limit on how many newlines you can use.Is this website open source?
No. At least not yet.How long do you retain data?
Messages are deleted after 1 month. Because of how database fragmentation works parts or all of your message text may stay longer in the DB. Web server logs are kept for a couple of weeks, but they do not contain IP addresses. If the site comes under attack we may enable IP address logging and change this answer. We have no clue if our hosting provider retains your data for longer or if they log IPs that access their datacenters. We do not keep backups of the database but we may temporarily copy the database to another host if we need to debug something. The database does not contain IP addresses.Do you share my data?
We don't share any data unless we're legally required to do so. We're obviously not going to prison in your place. Please use your own encryption and Tor if you don't want us to have anything to share in the first place. That being said we do not have much data to share in the first place, see the previous question.Can I delete my messages? / What is nuking?
You may delete all messages associated with your box by nuking your box (the nuke link is in your box page). Try to use this feature sparingly as other users may be confused when your messages and any messages that they sent to you disappear from their boxes. Of course users may have saved your messages on their hard disk already when you nuke your box. Nuking also deletes all delayed messages that are scheduled to be sent from that box and even all delayed messages scheduled to be sent to that box by others! This may reveal that you nuked your box to users who you do not even see currently in your box. All the caveats of the previous two questions apply here too.Does nuking my box disable it?
No. You box can still send and receive messages after you nuke it. Nuking only deletes messages associated with that box at the moment you nuke it.Can I delete individual messages?
No. They will be deleted after 1 month though.What are delayed messages?
Delayed messages are not visible on the receiving box until a certain time in the future. The behave as if they were sent later. Delayed messages have at least two use-cases:- By setting the minimum delay to 0 days and the maximum delay to 1 day, MarbleBox will pick a random delay of up to 24 hours, obfuscating the time of the day you sent the message for other users. Of course we, and our hosting provider, have access to the contents of the message and the real time that it was submitted to us.
- By setting both the minimum and maximum delay to something bigger, you can create messages that function as insurance in case something happens to you and you are unable to send those messages later. This way you can publicly reveal information (if you sent the delayed message to a well-known named box) or to a specific person (if you sent the delayed message to a regular private box belonging to that person). If you later decide you do not want the message to be actually revealed to the recipient then you should nuke your box at any point before the message is really sent. Some important things to consider:
- If you send those messages from a box that you have used for other messages, then nuking that box will also delete all the other messages. See the question about deleting your messages. You may want to use a new box just for sending your delayed insurance message.
- If you lose the key (the bookmark) to your box, you will be unable to nuke it, and the delayed messages will likely be sent when the time comes. We will not help delete messages if you lose your key/bookmark.
- MarbleBox is hosted on the public internet, so, clearly, someone with enough power can take not just your message, but the whole website down. If you need insurance, it's usually better to trust a friend with your secret rather than us.
- As mentioned before: we do not back up our database. So if shit hits the fan and the database is lost, your delayed messages may be deleted before being delivered.
- If you chose to send those messages to a private box and someone with the key to that box decides to nuke it, this will also nuke your own delayed message that they still have not received. To avoid that, send delayed messages to named boxes as those cannot be nuked.
- Once the message becomes visible in the recipient's box (or in the named box), it will stay there for 1 month and then it will be deleted like a regular message.
Do you have a GPG key?
No. Encrypt messages to our BCH or BTC keys which are listed below if you need encryption when messaging support.Can I donate?
Thank you for helping cover our expenses!XMR: 88iVjbwSL7qe4EvfdYSCFGhWvyznHtWSnBsFN6WXw9i28knNKUN779XDWbYzjSFjFce8wr4T8aKFP5ZViJwVpYRfC5WMCoS
BCH: qqzmjan5dd9gwxwqpp0napeg0xr6wahsxsvg04hluh
BTC: bc1qaguzszpwe7ad8qcxc3lsv3hpt7e5vchpyew24j
For other cryptocurrencies please reach out to support from your box.