I think a more exact description is: On social media groups and public posts, you are named but you are nobody to everyone else. On forums, you are unnamed bu

I think a more exact description is: On social media groups and public posts, you are named but you are nobody to everyone else. On forums, you are unnamed but you gather a reputation and become somebody. (And on HN and Reddit, you are both unnamed AND a nobody.) And I think it’s because on forums, it was a combination of (1) a smaller community and (2) you had an avatar and sometimes a signature, which made every post of yours memorable.