4 ms·

Digital garbage? Wasting usernames?

• mooism2 16y ago
  I don't see that wasting usernames is a problem. New users are surely far more likely to be able to register their preferred username on HN than on, say, Gmail or Xbox Live. What do you mean by "digital garbage", and why is it a problem?
  • ssn 16y ago
    By digital garbage I mean information without any useful purpose, only filling up space. I assume that temporary account are rare at HN, thus this isn't really a problem. However, I ask - shouldn't this use case (anonymous posting) be accommodated by the system, instead of relying on a hack?
    • mooism2 16y ago
      Even with anonymous posting, it is useful to know that the anonymous comments in the ensuing discussion are from the same person who made the original anonymous post. So I think pseudonymous posting is valuable, more so than truly anonymous posting.