stouset claimed that there is no practical advantage of using SHA-3 over SHA-512/256. He gave three main arguments: 1. SHA-3 is slower. 2. SHA-3 was subject to less cryptanalysis. 3. Virtually all respected cryptographers do not recommend SHA-3 over SHA-2.
On the other hand, baby claimed that there are practical advantages of using SHA-3 over SHA-2. However, even after reading the thread twice, I couldn't find out what they are supposed to be. (I'm leaving out the LEA here, since it does not affect SHA-512/256 either.)
Baby claimed that argument 2 was debunked, but the supporting link pointed to a thread that stated nothing to that effect. He also claimed that argument 3 carries no weight since it's an appeal to authority. While an appeal to authority is not a valid scientific argument, it's about the best practical argument you can make as a non-cryptographer when choosing cryptographic algorithms.
Sure, if you know what you're doing :) In the mean time I will keep recommending SHA-3.
> the virtually 40 years we've had to understand Merkle-Damgård
I think at this point we've understand that M-D sucks.
> blabla
I don't see why I would go on on a name dropping battle :)
I'll sum up our battle here: some people are advocating SHA-3, some people are not.
I'm in the first category. You're in the second. Your only arguments are that SHA-3 is "an inferior choice" and "big name is against SHA-3". Let's see how this pans out.