The line seems blurry. On the one hand, I'm all for people who want to share their information being able to throw it up - the more feedback the better, right? And it builds a sense of community that can last long past this YC decision. On the other hand, there's no real way of "opting out" of an unmoderated list like this; someone could easily post your application without your permission, and once that information is public, there's no real way to keep someone from putting it back on the list once you delete it.

It almost feels like there should be a "make public" option on the application itself, where applications who opt in can push their application onto HN somewhere, and people are free to comment on it in a sanctioned way. I've seen that done with grant programs with some success. Just thinking aloud here.

It was kind of a rhetorical question. The process clearly encouraged rebellious behavior. Though I don't think this really qualifies as such. We're entrepreneurs. We network. We promote. This is what we do.

if anything it showcases the hacker/startup spirit. i'm sure if it's a problem we'll find out somehow