5 ms·

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

by rad_gruchalski 7y ago

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.
      - krapp 7y ago
        >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 object to the fact that this forum lacks particular features, I can accept that, although I would disagree that they would add unnecessary complexity or would somehow damage the "signal to noise" ratio of the community. I object to the tendency of people here to assume that any features this forum lacks are a priori without value because it lacks them. If they don't want to add these particular features, fine, but people need to stop cargo culting the simplicity of this forum. Some of the features here are intentionally, actively user hostile and we should admit that Hacker News gets a pass for no other reason than it's Hacker News. >I don't know what being writing in Lisp implies that HN have to have some specific feature that you think it needs. I was snarking on the way people sometimes describe how elegant and powerful Lisp is, almost as if it were magic. Sometimes I forget this place is where humor goes to die. Mea culpa.
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.

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.
    - krapp 7y ago
      >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 object to the fact that this forum lacks particular features, I can accept that, although I would disagree that they would add unnecessary complexity or would somehow damage the "signal to noise" ratio of the community. I object to the tendency of people here to assume that any features this forum lacks are a priori without value because it lacks them. If they don't want to add these particular features, fine, but people need to stop cargo culting the simplicity of this forum. Some of the features here are intentionally, actively user hostile and we should admit that Hacker News gets a pass for no other reason than it's Hacker News. >I don't know what being writing in Lisp implies that HN have to have some specific feature that you think it needs. I was snarking on the way people sometimes describe how elegant and powerful Lisp is, almost as if it were magic. Sometimes I forget this place is where humor goes to die. Mea culpa.

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.