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Off topic: what is the cultural or psychological meaning of these one-off usernames on Hacker News? Last week I referred to Lisp in the past tense and someone c
by lkrubner 14y ago
Off topic: what is the cultural or psychological meaning of these one-off usernames on Hacker News? Last week I referred to Lisp in the past tense and someone created a username "presenttense" to correct me. Is it suppose to be a clever way of saying something, to create a one-time username? Or is that some people really need that much anonymousness? Should I assume that some of these one-offs are people who work for Ycombinator, who perhaps do not want to attach their normal usernames to something that some might interpret as snarky?
(edit: why downvote this? It is a serious question. I am curious why people create one-off usernames. And I am curious what the Hacker News community thinks of this practice. Another thread today was about how to improve voting on Hacker News. Do one-off accounts throw off the way karma should work, in an ideal system? That's a valid question, when we consider how to make the community better.)
- pspeter3 14y agoI agree that this is a real concern. Can I suggest that you start a new thread for it?
- erickhill 14y agoI've often thought that some of these one-offs are owned by long-time HN'ers who want to post content or comments across topics they find interesting, but don't fit well into the perceived "right content" moderation buckets. Much like your off-topic (but valid to HN) comment above... I could be wrong, but I've assumed it was a means to provide fringe topics/discussion without "damaging" their more popular personas.
- notaddicted 14y agoNot saying these are good reasons, just reasons: - Anonymity (as you mentioned) - It is actually easier on this site to create an account than to reset your password (I don't know if people do this, but it is possible.) - Novelty Accounts (like on reddit) for the joke. Here is an example of a novelty account in its natural habitat: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/z9yap/i_suspect_my_girlfriend_is_remotecontrolled_by/c62ryii http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/z9yap/i_suspect_m...