I feel like ESR, RMS and GvR would be recognised in just about every hacker-hangout. PG, outside of HN (and maybe some other places), not so much. (Of course,

I feel like ESR, RMS and GvR would be recognised in just about every hacker-hangout. PG, outside of HN (and maybe some other places), not so much. (Of course, it's self-reinforcing. People know ESR by his initials because that's how other people refer to him, and you can refer to him by his initials because people will know who you're talking about.)