Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN?

Re:Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN? by rcamera on Monday April 02, 2012 @08:47AM (#3787784)

If they left the profile empty, it was their choice. You can interpret that as if they simply don't want to be contacted. Doing what you suggested won't make HN any "better", it will only drive away the commenters that don't want to be reached out, or those who want to remain anonymous.

For other commenters here thinking that less anonymity will improve comment quality, a comment should stand on its own, and comment quality is completely unrelated to the anonymosity from the commenter, as well as his age, sex, job or domain-specific knowledge. I repeat, a comment should stand on its own, any kind of filtering based on someone's profile is flawed.

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Re:Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN? by euroclydon on Monday April 02, 2012 @09:15AM (#3787897)

I used to think a comment should stand on its own too, but I now think that the benefit of knowing the background of the person speaking to you outweighs the downside of introducing your own personal prejudices. I mean, should HN be optimized toward mitigating user prejudice or an enhanced experience for the enlightened?

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Re:Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN? by rbarooah on Monday April 02, 2012 @12:03PM (#3788722)

should HN be optimized towards mitigating user prejudice or an enhanced experience for the enlightened?

Unless you really think that increased prejudice on HN would enhance the experience for the 'enlightened', then this is a false dichotomy.

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Re:Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN? by prodigal_erik on Monday April 02, 2012 @08:33PM (#3790886)

I heavily self-censor whenever my True Name is known. You would only ever hear controversial ideas from the few who recklessly take permanent risks with their job (and possibly housing, dating…) prospects.

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Re:Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN? by rsanchez1 on Monday April 02, 2012 @09:32AM (#3787978)

What benefit is there to knowing the background?

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Re:Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN? by euroclydon on Monday April 02, 2012 @10:02AM (#3788116)

How is having less information helpful, in this case?

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Re:Ask PG: Would Less Anonymity Help HN? by rbarooah on Monday April 02, 2012 @12:04PM (#3788735)

You've already acknowledged that the intent is to reduce prejudice and priming and to allow comments to be judged on their merits.

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