They also seem to hate Factorio itself, which is the reason that while they play it and tweet about it so much, they mangle its name. I don't understand it, but everyone is free to remove what they want from their own Twitter I guess.

FWIW re the mangling: According to foone, the reason they blank out the name is to avoid it showing up on searches for the game (automated or otherwise), which they say has led to a subset of fans of the game sending them transphobic comments because of the past drama and the presence of a trans flag on their twitter page.

But as you say, people can do what they like.

That is not the reason I had been told and I can't easily check this (can't search -- that's the point). It is not unlikely that I have been led astray.

i edited my comment to provide a little more context but just because someone provides reasons doesn’t mean it’s not influenced by the trend. reddit’s trend to dislike tiktok has valid points but it’s also fueled by the trend. i’ve criticized hn here on hn so this isn’t me trying to defend the site.