4 ms·

You know who else doesn't allow you to delete your account / post history? HACKER NEWS!

by ubertoop 7y ago

rad_gruchalski 7y ago
Just send an email to the moderator. It has been discussed many times here before.
- ubertoop 7y ago
  Who is the moderator? And how do I find them/their email? There isn't a user search feature, as far as I can tell?
  - lazugod 7y ago
    Username of dang
  - grzm 7y ago
    Note the Contact link in the footer: you can email the mods directly. In my experience they're very responsive.
    - ubertoop 7y ago
      hn@ycombinator.com ??? and how do they verify that the email requesting an account be deleted, is coming from the actual owner of that account?
      - grzm 7y ago
        Rather than ask random people on the forum, I suggest emailing the mods and asking them directly. They're clearly authoritative in this regard.
      - egdod 7y ago
        If it’s from the email you signed up with, that’d be a good sign.
- BubRoss 7y ago
  Why is that an acceptable way to handle it?
  - dmix 7y ago
    HN clearly values simplicity over being a full fledge company. That’s worked perfectly fine for a decade.
    - krapp 7y ago
      A simple forum can allow for account deletion, literally every open source forum I'm aware of does, and it doesn't require "being a full fledged company," either. This site is written in a Lisp dialect, so it should be possible to implement a new feature in a single line in a REPL over a cup of coffee, anyway, right? ;) Anywhere else, having to contact a moderator to ask permission to have one's account deleted would be considered a user hostile dark pattern, nefarious motives assumed by default. But when Hacker News does it, well obviously it's just another sign of the elegance behind its design.
      - m45t3r 7y ago
        > A simple forum can allow for account deletion, literally every open source forum I'm aware of does, and it doesn't require "being a full fledged company," either. This site is written in a Lisp dialect, so it should be possible to implement a new feature in a single line in a REPL over a cup of coffee, anyway, right? ;) A simple forum also has reply notifications, that HN has not. It is difficult to accept that HN is different from other forum software, with different priorities? I don't know what being writing in Lisp implies that HN have to have some specific feature that you think it needs. > Anywhere else, having to contact a moderator to ask permission to have one's account deleted would be considered a user hostile dark pattern, nefarious motives assumed by default. But when Hacker News does it, well obviously it's just another sign of the elegance behind its design. It would be considered a dark pattern if the moderators were against deleting accounts, giving excuses or making the process unnecessary difficult. Since it seems that the moderators delete your account without bothering you, I don't think this is a dark pattern at all.
- steve_adams_86 7y ago
  They're incredibly helpful and nice in my experience. It's really not an issue.
  - spectramax 7y ago
    HN mods - salute to you. Thanks for keeping this place tidy.
    - ubertoop 7y ago
      Can confirm. Mods responded very quickly, and took care of the issue. Hats off to them.
reilly3000 7y ago
What about the post history data set in BigQuery? That is a widespread and complete record of HN activity.

You know who else doesn't allow you to delete your account / post history? HACKER NEWS!

rad_gruchalski 7y ago

Just send an email to the moderator. It has been discussed many times here before.

ubertoop 7y ago
Who is the moderator? And how do I find them/their email? There isn't a user search feature, as far as I can tell?
- lazugod 7y ago
  Username of dang
- grzm 7y ago
  Note the Contact link in the footer: you can email the mods directly. In my experience they're very responsive.
  - ubertoop 7y ago
    hn@ycombinator.com ??? and how do they verify that the email requesting an account be deleted, is coming from the actual owner of that account?
    - grzm 7y ago
      Rather than ask random people on the forum, I suggest emailing the mods and asking them directly. They're clearly authoritative in this regard.
    - egdod 7y ago
      If it’s from the email you signed up with, that’d be a good sign.
BubRoss 7y ago
Why is that an acceptable way to handle it?
- dmix 7y ago
  HN clearly values simplicity over being a full fledge company. That’s worked perfectly fine for a decade.
  - krapp 7y ago
    A simple forum can allow for account deletion, literally every open source forum I'm aware of does, and it doesn't require "being a full fledged company," either. This site is written in a Lisp dialect, so it should be possible to implement a new feature in a single line in a REPL over a cup of coffee, anyway, right? ;) Anywhere else, having to contact a moderator to ask permission to have one's account deleted would be considered a user hostile dark pattern, nefarious motives assumed by default. But when Hacker News does it, well obviously it's just another sign of the elegance behind its design.
    - m45t3r 7y ago
      > A simple forum can allow for account deletion, literally every open source forum I'm aware of does, and it doesn't require "being a full fledged company," either. This site is written in a Lisp dialect, so it should be possible to implement a new feature in a single line in a REPL over a cup of coffee, anyway, right? ;) A simple forum also has reply notifications, that HN has not. It is difficult to accept that HN is different from other forum software, with different priorities? I don't know what being writing in Lisp implies that HN have to have some specific feature that you think it needs. > Anywhere else, having to contact a moderator to ask permission to have one's account deleted would be considered a user hostile dark pattern, nefarious motives assumed by default. But when Hacker News does it, well obviously it's just another sign of the elegance behind its design. It would be considered a dark pattern if the moderators were against deleting accounts, giving excuses or making the process unnecessary difficult. Since it seems that the moderators delete your account without bothering you, I don't think this is a dark pattern at all.
steve_adams_86 7y ago
They're incredibly helpful and nice in my experience. It's really not an issue.
- spectramax 7y ago
  HN mods - salute to you. Thanks for keeping this place tidy.
  - ubertoop 7y ago
    Can confirm. Mods responded very quickly, and took care of the issue. Hats off to them.

reilly3000 7y ago

What about the post history data set in BigQuery? That is a widespread and complete record of HN activity.