This is similar to my approach for finding usernames on most online services these days (not HN). I look for unused strings that are preferrably short, single w

This is similar to my approach for finding usernames on most online services these days (not HN). I look for unused strings that are preferrably short, single words (two is not too bad), with no numbers or special characters, and choose one of the best ones more or less at random. Ideally I'd like to have the username I've been using since the 90s everywhere, but it's a single very common english word. It's always snapped up by some rando who arrived first and proceeds to never do anything with it (sometimes bots, I'm sure). You can't get too attached to the names you really want.