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Personally I don't read user names. Easiest way to focus on the comments. Of course, the lack of avatars and signatures and stuff like that helps a lot. I have

Personally I don't read user names. Easiest way to focus on the comments. Of course, the lack of avatars and signatures and stuff like that helps a lot. I have absolutely no idea who I've had an argument with on HN ever. I'm sure I've had a few.

viraptor 2y ago
It's interesting to keep track of some known people. Sometimes you get to see (for example) a thread with cperciva, tptacek and animats - and I think it makes it more fun to read when you know...
- nottorp 2y ago
  But but ... they're known to you because you read the user names ...
- AmericanChopper 2y ago
  I’ll often looks at the username if I find a comment either particularly insightful, or particularly stupid. It tends to be the same small collection of users, so I guess I’m agreeing/disagreeing with people quite consistently.
  - pixl97 2y ago
    There is one person here that is like my Polish doppelganger. I'll go to post in a thread and I'll find they already posted the gist of what I was going to say.
- dewey 2y ago
  There's also https://hnrss.github.io https://hnrss.github.io where you can "subscribe" to a user's comments.
- splonk 2y ago
  If I see a thread with too many comments from high volume posters, I assume it's low signal. Most of them are very good at commenting in a style that is convincing sounding and popular here, but when they stray into topics that I know well, I often find them to be confident, plausible, and wrong. (And also upvoted above people with correct information who don't have the same name recognition.)
  - astura 2y ago
    >I often find them to be confident, plausible, and wrong. (And also upvoted above people with correct information who don't have the same name recognition.) This is basically 99% of hacker news comments in a nutshell.
    - polotics 2y ago
      You pass the confidence, plausibility, and accuracy challenge with flying colours!
  - tptacek 2y ago
    I'm sure that happens with me (I've noted for awhile that banal comments I write here get upvoted, presumably from a combination name recognition and people who engage with HN by following specific people --- which is how I do it too). What I'll say is if you see this happening with me, call me out on it! Refer back to this comment, if you like, when you do. Apart from sheer volume (I have been a message board nerd since FIDONet when I was a teenager, it's second nature for me) I attribute what success I've had here to engaging principally on security topics, which is where I've spent my whole career. But I also just like to shoot the shit about stuff! I'm wrong all the time! (Including about security stuff).
FredPret 2y ago
One username that always stands out is “1970-01-01”. Every time I do a double-take, thinking a timestamp has gone wrong.
bryanrasmussen 2y ago
the same, I get weirded out sometimes when I read a remark from someone who evidently has decided to keep track of who I am on the site. Seems like a lot of wasted mental effort for little reward.
- carapace 2y ago
  A couple of weeks ago someone made a whole anonymous Mastodon account just to ask me a vague question about a comment I made here on HN like six years ago. It kinda creeped me out. A fan? A stalker? Just a rando with too much time on their hands?
gumby 2y ago
I do look at the commenter's name (same as for an article's author) as I know quite a few commenters personally (some are former colleagues) so our replies sometimes refer specifically to something the other person knows or did. Obviously this applies to a negligible percentage of total commenters, but as I only comment on certain topics I’m more likely to encounter friends with the same interests/experiences.

viraptor 2y ago

It's interesting to keep track of some known people. Sometimes you get to see (for example) a thread with cperciva, tptacek and animats - and I think it makes it more fun to read when you know...

nottorp 2y ago
But but ... they're known to you because you read the user names ...
AmericanChopper 2y ago
I’ll often looks at the username if I find a comment either particularly insightful, or particularly stupid. It tends to be the same small collection of users, so I guess I’m agreeing/disagreeing with people quite consistently.
- pixl97 2y ago
  There is one person here that is like my Polish doppelganger. I'll go to post in a thread and I'll find they already posted the gist of what I was going to say.
dewey 2y ago
There's also https://hnrss.github.io https://hnrss.github.io where you can "subscribe" to a user's comments.
splonk 2y ago
If I see a thread with too many comments from high volume posters, I assume it's low signal. Most of them are very good at commenting in a style that is convincing sounding and popular here, but when they stray into topics that I know well, I often find them to be confident, plausible, and wrong. (And also upvoted above people with correct information who don't have the same name recognition.)
- astura 2y ago
  >I often find them to be confident, plausible, and wrong. (And also upvoted above people with correct information who don't have the same name recognition.) This is basically 99% of hacker news comments in a nutshell.
  - polotics 2y ago
    You pass the confidence, plausibility, and accuracy challenge with flying colours!
- tptacek 2y ago
  I'm sure that happens with me (I've noted for awhile that banal comments I write here get upvoted, presumably from a combination name recognition and people who engage with HN by following specific people --- which is how I do it too). What I'll say is if you see this happening with me, call me out on it! Refer back to this comment, if you like, when you do. Apart from sheer volume (I have been a message board nerd since FIDONet when I was a teenager, it's second nature for me) I attribute what success I've had here to engaging principally on security topics, which is where I've spent my whole career. But I also just like to shoot the shit about stuff! I'm wrong all the time! (Including about security stuff).

FredPret 2y ago

One username that always stands out is “1970-01-01”. Every time I do a double-take, thinking a timestamp has gone wrong.

bryanrasmussen 2y ago

the same, I get weirded out sometimes when I read a remark from someone who evidently has decided to keep track of who I am on the site. Seems like a lot of wasted mental effort for little reward.

carapace 2y ago
A couple of weeks ago someone made a whole anonymous Mastodon account just to ask me a vague question about a comment I made here on HN like six years ago. It kinda creeped me out. A fan? A stalker? Just a rando with too much time on their hands?

gumby 2y ago

I do look at the commenter's name (same as for an article's author) as I know quite a few commenters personally (some are former colleagues) so our replies sometimes refer specifically to something the other person knows or did. Obviously this applies to a negligible percentage of total commenters, but as I only comment on certain topics I’m more likely to encounter friends with the same interests/experiences.