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From the guidelines: > "Throwaway accounts are ok for sensitive information, but please don't create them routinely. On HN, users should have an identity that

by grzm 8y ago

From the guidelines: > "Throwaway accounts are ok for sensitive information, but please don't create them routinely. On HN, users should have an identity that others can relate to." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html As recently as a week ago, 'dang had this to say about throwaways: > "HN can't be a community without members. Disembodied comments are not community members. No one is required to use their real name here, but users need to have some consistent identity for others to relate to. Otherwise we might as well have no usernames and no community at all." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17996295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17996295 And later goes on to make clear this includes "users who create throwaway accounts for everything, including uncontroversial stuff". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17996858 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17996858 They also don't see or act on everything they see, so in that sense, I think you could say they "don't seem bothered." That said, I think it's fair to say it's preferred that you maintain some sort of identity.

throwaway83628 8y ago
I definitely dont create them routinely. Maybe 4 times a year. Consistency isn't worth much if nobody knows who you are because you never post. The desire to create a community chafes against the zero verfication HN does for new accounts. If you want to create a community it should be harder to create a new account than login, but it's actually the opposite. To create a new account I don't need to remember my password, I just need a username and keyspam. This probably isn't what Dang wants but it's how the site currently works. If it's easier to create an account a couple times a year than remember my login, especially when nobody is gonna remember someone who posts 4 times a year, what is the point of maintaining an account. Just being logical here.

by grzm 8y ago

throwaway83628 8y ago

I definitely dont create them routinely. Maybe 4 times a year. Consistency isn't worth much if nobody knows who you are because you never post. The desire to create a community chafes against the zero verfication HN does for new accounts. If you want to create a community it should be harder to create a new account than login, but it's actually the opposite. To create a new account I don't need to remember my password, I just need a username and keyspam. This probably isn't what Dang wants but it's how the site currently works. If it's easier to create an account a couple times a year than remember my login, especially when nobody is gonna remember someone who posts 4 times a year, what is the point of maintaining an account. Just being logical here.