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I wonder if one of the keys to HN's success, apart from great moderation, is that poster's identities are very subdued. I feel it encourages responding to the

by abraae 9y ago

I wonder if one of the keys to HN's success, apart from great moderation, is that poster's identities are very subdued. I feel it encourages responding to the post, rather than the person making it. By contrast discourse stuffs a big image of the poster and their username in your face, as does Reddit. I find the first impression on those platforms is that I'm talking to someone with Donald Trump's head as an Avatar and a provocative username. Which does not naturally lead to considered response.

KajMagnus 9y ago
It'd be interesting, if, at Reddit / Discourse / other places, people's names are hidden, until one clicks the post header, to reveal the username. Then, when reading a comment, one won't know who wrote it. And can think about the content, more unbiased. And afterwards, one can click the username, in case one wants to know who the author is, because ... ... who wrote it can still matter. For example, if someone says a Linux kernel version should be avoided because of a serious bug, and he is Linus Torvalds, then you can trust that info for sure, just by looking at the name.