6 ms·

Gwern answers 'Ask gwern: Who are you?'

121 points by clicks 13y ago

clicks 13y ago
gwern himself answered it in the original thread, but it was marked dead (probably because of linking to certain sites set off HN's spam filters).
- arundelo 13y ago
  Someone fixed that; here it is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5659278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5659278
nookiemonster 13y ago
who is gwern?
- ShardPhoenix 13y ago
  Someone who writes interesting things (often with a lot of statistical analysis) on http://www.gwern.net http://www.gwern.net and Less Wrong.
  - EdSharkey 13y ago
    I have visited Gwern's site a number of times, mainly regarding the anime "Death Note" discussions. I wish I was a few more years further along in my business plan and had the means to offer a consulting gig to him or her. Gwern would keep us honest and weird and brilliant.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
cupcake-unicorn 13y ago
I'm such a Gwern fangirl. Pics or it didn't happen!
endtime 13y ago
I met Gwern once or twice at a Less Wrong meetup. I don't think he particularly stood out from the other folks there.
- gwern 13y ago
  To be fair, the one OB-NYC meetup I attended wasn't that great so I didn't have much to say. (Being hearing-impaired hardly helps either.)
  - endtime 13y ago
    It wasn't supposed to be a negative statement. ;) Though I see how it could be taken that way. FWIW you did seem to have it a bit more together than some of the folks there. And you are clearly more productive than a lot of Less Wrongers. All I meant in my last comment was that you didn't seem like an international figure of mystery or anything.
    - StavrosK 13y ago
      Good thing you clarified that, because the only way I could see to take the previous comment was negative (just a heads up).
eunikins 13y ago
It's sad that our personal info can be used with such malice in this day and age when we're supposed to celebrate the accessibility and transparency of information. That people still cannot be freely outspoken under their real identities because some spiteful person who disagrees with them might call up their bosses to try to get them fired (or worse). When people on the Internet cross the line and make things personal because they feel a sense of power in hiding behind their anonymous computer screen and having someone else's vulnerable and real identity in their hands. Gwern, thanks for the humble reply and all your writings. Maybe one day we will be able to celebrate your talent as part of your identity.
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  “people still cannot be freely outspoken under their real identities” Sure they can, and millions of us are. If people couldn’t be, Facebook wouldn’t exist. ”When people on the Internet cross the line” That’s not a given. I never hide my identity and it has only worked out positive for me. There are assholes online and offline, I sure as hell won’t let any of them limit what I say or do.
  - eunikins 13y ago
    People on facebook aren't necessarily outspoken, as they have private profiles limited to only who they decide to add as friends. And usually, people remain "friends" with those who share similar opinions (aka circle jerk) because those who disagree probably have defriended them or have had a flame war over comments which doesn't lead to anything.. Because the "hater's" identity in this situation is not anonymous either. For most people, posting under their real identity doesn't really get them in trouble. I'm talking about posters who discuss controversial topics publicly- not only is it so easy for someone to send in anonymous hate emails, but now they can anonymously harass the poster in real life by calling up their boss or family members, after a few clicks of research on the Internet. It makes me wonder in what form this kind of "hateful" harassment (say, one step below actual hate crimes) existed in the days without Internet.
    - 13y ago
baby 13y ago
pastee doesn't work here (hk), I guess time out?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
bdcs 13y ago
A DNS WHOIS lookup reports who registered gwern.net. Isn't that who he is?
- nwh 13y ago
  I would be shocked if most WHOIS data was legitimate. I myself have made up various people to play host to my domains.
  - haakon 13y ago
    For most popular TLDs, that is a breach of terms and may get your domain name terminated at any point. It seems like it would be better to just use the registrar's privacy service for this.
    - nwh 13y ago
      I realise, but the "privacy" services tend give up people's details upon casual request. It makes them absolutely worthless.
    - eli 13y ago
      While true, are you aware of that ever actually happening?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
eric_cc 13y ago
How did gwern gain fame around here?
- bmmayer1 13y ago
  He (or she?) has had a couple essays rise to the top of HN. In my memory, one this week about predicting Google product shutdowns, and one a while back about determining whether a leaked film script was legitimate.
  - gwern 13y ago
    I believe besides those two, my Silk Road essay ( http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road ) hit the front page sometime in the past year.
gwern 13y ago
The donations have kept coming in, as have Bitcoin donations. If you're one of the ones who sent me bitcoin, why don't you ring me up at gwern@gwern.net - what did you like so much that you were willing to donate?
- clicks 13y ago
  I personally like your writings (over a lot of other blog articles) for the same reason I liked Nate Silver's writings over the punditry offered by WSJ op-eds and whatnot. You substantiate your claims with good math and statistics, and transparent methodologies.
  - gwern 13y ago
    I see, thanks.
- clarkm 13y ago
  Though it seems like most people here are commenting on your gwern.net articles, I'd like to say that I really enjoy the links you post on your google+ feed -- it has a higher signal to noise ratio than any other information stream I've found on the internet (including HN). Though I also because I'm
  - SeanDav 13y ago
    How do I find these? I don't see any Google+ links on gwern.net.
    - gwern 13y ago
      It's at the bottom of each page: "Still bored? Then try my Google+ news feed." Which links to https://plus.google.com/103530621949492999968/posts https://plus.google.com/103530621949492999968/posts
- mietek 13y ago
  Your articles stand out due to their information density.
Kiro 13y ago
Can someone explain what this is about?
DanBC 13y ago
I really really hope that discussion about revenue is not seen as grounds to cancel those accounts. I understand that Google is very touchy about people talking about ad revenue.
- gwern 13y ago
  I originally provided a CSV export of my AdSense history but then it was pointed out to me by an acquaintance that the ToS strictly forbids it; it does permit talking about 'aggregates', IIRC, so hopefully there won't be any problems. (Another acquaintance then pointed out to me that I am apparently a Famous Person now and lots of Googlers read Hacker News, so I always have the option of getting real customer service that way... which doesn't make me too happy - you shouldn't have to be that rare geek who frequents one particular niche site to get problems with Google fixed!)
runjake 13y ago
For those not in the know & looking for context: Gwern is a popular analyst of the Silk Road, the infamous anonymous marketplace on the Tor network. http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)
keefe 13y ago
you are... a person somehow associated with singinst that I met with Jasen a while back? Your writing was interesting enough that I noticed your SN after, which is something like a compliment... otherwise, this pastee is 404ing for me so...

121 points by clicks 13y ago

gwern himself answered it in the original thread, but it was marked dead (probably because of linking to certain sites set off HN's spam filters).

arundelo 13y ago
Someone fixed that; here it is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5659278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5659278

nookiemonster 13y ago

who is gwern?

ShardPhoenix 13y ago
Someone who writes interesting things (often with a lot of statistical analysis) on http://www.gwern.net http://www.gwern.net and Less Wrong.
- EdSharkey 13y ago
  I have visited Gwern's site a number of times, mainly regarding the anime "Death Note" discussions. I wish I was a few more years further along in my business plan and had the means to offer a consulting gig to him or her. Gwern would keep us honest and weird and brilliant.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cupcake-unicorn 13y ago

I'm such a Gwern fangirl. Pics or it didn't happen!

endtime 13y ago

I met Gwern once or twice at a Less Wrong meetup. I don't think he particularly stood out from the other folks there.

gwern 13y ago
To be fair, the one OB-NYC meetup I attended wasn't that great so I didn't have much to say. (Being hearing-impaired hardly helps either.)
- endtime 13y ago
  It wasn't supposed to be a negative statement. ;) Though I see how it could be taken that way. FWIW you did seem to have it a bit more together than some of the folks there. And you are clearly more productive than a lot of Less Wrongers. All I meant in my last comment was that you didn't seem like an international figure of mystery or anything.
  - StavrosK 13y ago
    Good thing you clarified that, because the only way I could see to take the previous comment was negative (just a heads up).

eunikins 13y ago

It's sad that our personal info can be used with such malice in this day and age when we're supposed to celebrate the accessibility and transparency of information. That people still cannot be freely outspoken under their real identities because some spiteful person who disagrees with them might call up their bosses to try to get them fired (or worse). When people on the Internet cross the line and make things personal because they feel a sense of power in hiding behind their anonymous computer screen and having someone else's vulnerable and real identity in their hands. Gwern, thanks for the humble reply and all your writings. Maybe one day we will be able to celebrate your talent as part of your identity.

Samuel_Michon 13y ago
“people still cannot be freely outspoken under their real identities” Sure they can, and millions of us are. If people couldn’t be, Facebook wouldn’t exist. ”When people on the Internet cross the line” That’s not a given. I never hide my identity and it has only worked out positive for me. There are assholes online and offline, I sure as hell won’t let any of them limit what I say or do.
- eunikins 13y ago
  People on facebook aren't necessarily outspoken, as they have private profiles limited to only who they decide to add as friends. And usually, people remain "friends" with those who share similar opinions (aka circle jerk) because those who disagree probably have defriended them or have had a flame war over comments which doesn't lead to anything.. Because the "hater's" identity in this situation is not anonymous either. For most people, posting under their real identity doesn't really get them in trouble. I'm talking about posters who discuss controversial topics publicly- not only is it so easy for someone to send in anonymous hate emails, but now they can anonymously harass the poster in real life by calling up their boss or family members, after a few clicks of research on the Internet. It makes me wonder in what form this kind of "hateful" harassment (say, one step below actual hate crimes) existed in the days without Internet.
  - 13y ago

baby 13y ago

pastee doesn't work here (hk), I guess time out?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

bdcs 13y ago

A DNS WHOIS lookup reports who registered gwern.net. Isn't that who he is?

nwh 13y ago
I would be shocked if most WHOIS data was legitimate. I myself have made up various people to play host to my domains.
- haakon 13y ago
  For most popular TLDs, that is a breach of terms and may get your domain name terminated at any point. It seems like it would be better to just use the registrar's privacy service for this.
  - nwh 13y ago
    I realise, but the "privacy" services tend give up people's details upon casual request. It makes them absolutely worthless.
  - eli 13y ago
    While true, are you aware of that ever actually happening?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

eric_cc 13y ago

How did gwern gain fame around here?

bmmayer1 13y ago
He (or she?) has had a couple essays rise to the top of HN. In my memory, one this week about predicting Google product shutdowns, and one a while back about determining whether a leaked film script was legitimate.
- gwern 13y ago
  I believe besides those two, my Silk Road essay ( http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road ) hit the front page sometime in the past year.

gwern 13y ago

The donations have kept coming in, as have Bitcoin donations. If you're one of the ones who sent me bitcoin, why don't you ring me up at gwern@gwern.net - what did you like so much that you were willing to donate?

clicks 13y ago
I personally like your writings (over a lot of other blog articles) for the same reason I liked Nate Silver's writings over the punditry offered by WSJ op-eds and whatnot. You substantiate your claims with good math and statistics, and transparent methodologies.
- gwern 13y ago
  I see, thanks.
clarkm 13y ago
Though it seems like most people here are commenting on your gwern.net articles, I'd like to say that I really enjoy the links you post on your google+ feed -- it has a higher signal to noise ratio than any other information stream I've found on the internet (including HN). Though I also because I'm
- SeanDav 13y ago
  How do I find these? I don't see any Google+ links on gwern.net.
  - gwern 13y ago
    It's at the bottom of each page: "Still bored? Then try my Google+ news feed." Which links to https://plus.google.com/103530621949492999968/posts https://plus.google.com/103530621949492999968/posts
mietek 13y ago
Your articles stand out due to their information density.

Kiro 13y ago

Can someone explain what this is about?

DanBC 13y ago

I really really hope that discussion about revenue is not seen as grounds to cancel those accounts. I understand that Google is very touchy about people talking about ad revenue.

gwern 13y ago
I originally provided a CSV export of my AdSense history but then it was pointed out to me by an acquaintance that the ToS strictly forbids it; it does permit talking about 'aggregates', IIRC, so hopefully there won't be any problems. (Another acquaintance then pointed out to me that I am apparently a Famous Person now and lots of Googlers read Hacker News, so I always have the option of getting real customer service that way... which doesn't make me too happy - you shouldn't have to be that rare geek who frequents one particular niche site to get problems with Google fixed!)

runjake 13y ago

For those not in the know & looking for context: Gwern is a popular analyst of the Silk Road, the infamous anonymous marketplace on the Tor network. http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)

keefe 13y ago

you are... a person somehow associated with singinst that I met with Jasen a while back? Your writing was interesting enough that I noticed your SN after, which is something like a compliment... otherwise, this pastee is 404ing for me so...