Honestly, Hacker News as a community, and you as a moderator, don't deserve to have a permanent username for contributors. Changing usernames is really the onl

Honestly, Hacker News as a community, and you as a moderator, don't deserve to have a permanent username for contributors. Changing usernames is really the only option for participating in the discussion when dealing with people who down-vote or moderate based on popular opinion rather than the supposed guidelines. I've seen you in particular selectively apply those guidelines, so I know you don't have the moral high ground here. It's ok to be sarcastic and abusive if you're saying something that goes along with the group-think, but the hammer drops if you dare question, much less contradict, in anything but the absolute most polite tone. I doubt you have the energy to try and enforce your one-username policy against all the users who do this, but even if you did, you're just contributing to making this place even more of a monoculture than it already is. People who keep their usernames are mostly playing a popularity contest with silly karma points. Are you sure you're incentivising the right group for healthy and enlightening discussions??