3 ms·

Wouldn't it being "opt-in" make it functionally the same as now? Where you can opt-in to including an email address in your profile? And for those worried abo

Wouldn't it being "opt-in" make it functionally the same as now? Where you can opt-in to including an email address in your profile? And for those worried about anonymity, it takes about 4 minutes to set up an anonymous email account and set it to forward to your primary inbox. I'd guess that most on HN have either an email that they are comfortable revealing publicly or an anonymous one.

ColinWright 13y ago
Just looking to reduce the friction. Clicking a link, typing in your email address, clicking "GO", it much easier than setting up an anonymous account. The facility could also allow one-click blocking of users, and can't be harvested. I have to change the email address in my profile reasonably often as it regularly gets harvested and transferred to spam lists.
- pasbesoin 13y ago
  DM messaging might open HN up to all sorts of attention it would rather not have. Right now, (almost) all communication on it is public. If some three letter authority wants to know what's going on, they can just browse. I'm not particularly defending the behaviour of three letter authorities. Rather, I'm pointing out one implication that comes to mind. (PG could talk to the Reddit people, for one -- our could he? -- to learn what their experience has been with DM's that exist under a similar platform model.) As it stands, I see HN as a fairly minimal and absolute model of "opt in". If you want to be available for private messages, you get and display an email address. Or a URL. Or whatever. What that point of contact is and how it relates to your life, is up to you. If you don't want to field private messages, for whatever reason, you just go with the status quo. No need to actively filter them out, nor to explain that no, you never read crazy_joes message or that at least you didn't take him/her seriously.

ColinWright 13y ago

Just looking to reduce the friction. Clicking a link, typing in your email address, clicking "GO", it much easier than setting up an anonymous account. The facility could also allow one-click blocking of users, and can't be harvested. I have to change the email address in my profile reasonably often as it regularly gets harvested and transferred to spam lists.

pasbesoin 13y ago
DM messaging might open HN up to all sorts of attention it would rather not have. Right now, (almost) all communication on it is public. If some three letter authority wants to know what's going on, they can just browse. I'm not particularly defending the behaviour of three letter authorities. Rather, I'm pointing out one implication that comes to mind. (PG could talk to the Reddit people, for one -- our could he? -- to learn what their experience has been with DM's that exist under a similar platform model.) As it stands, I see HN as a fairly minimal and absolute model of "opt in". If you want to be available for private messages, you get and display an email address. Or a URL. Or whatever. What that point of contact is and how it relates to your life, is up to you. If you don't want to field private messages, for whatever reason, you just go with the status quo. No need to actively filter them out, nor to explain that no, you never read crazy_joes message or that at least you didn't take him/her seriously.