I personally don't think his identity is relevant to all HN, but it's definitely something that's going to be revealed to the selected candidate/project because of the legal implication.
I don't think it is useful to bring attention to that. Hacker News readers familiar with AWS will recognize the name. A certain amount of pseudo-anonymity may encourage people like him to post more on HN.
Because he doesn't want to be outed, for whatever reason. Outing someone by calling out their real name is a dick move. It used to be that HN recognized the occasional need for stealth pre-launch, instead of this braggery.
(Disclaimer: same thing happened to my company when we pre-launched.)
But he isn't -- he pointed out an insanely racist real world thing -- he identified himself in real life already to any of his co-workers who read this (being called Carbomb is obviously not normal workplace behavior, in meetings... WTF... terror cell... seriously?). The only people he "hid" his identity from are other HN users from seeing his HN history.
So, you've dodged the question of who he is. How about the question of why his identity must be kept secret? It sounds like anyone anywhere near him would know who you're talking about anyway
Maybe, revealing the true (or full) name is seen as a journalistic contribution? (As in "I'm not just reporting on what is there for everyone to see, I also did some actual research. See, here's the real name nobody was meant to know." – Obviously, this would be more proof of an issue with professional self-esteem, rather than of anything else.)
Not that one. I'm uncomfortable sharing, though honestly I would have a hard time articulating why, since my whole point is: this guy's identity is not a secret.
> Is your name available somewhere that we could verify?
Does it matter? Sheesh, it's a comment on a forum. He's probably legit. If he's not, who cares? Are you a government leader needing to make a decision that will effect millions and it's all hinging on the veracity of some forum comment here on HN?! :-)
At the moment, he's chosen not to reveal his name, his domain, or the company in question.
I think it's silly, publicity can only help him in a case like this, but we don't get to make that choice for him.
That said, he'd be doing everyone a public service by naming the company. Judging by the WIPO case (which I also found), they're quite inept and shouldn't be trusted with anything more complicated than lincoln logs.
The tacit identification in the post is an interesting strategy. Why not just explicitly identify the individual? Are there legal implications here or is he trying to manufacture more drama by getting the reader more involved?
I think he's done the greater service to everyone reading by not naming names. The likelihood that anyone on HN will end up doing business with these three is very unlikely. However, there is a good chance one of us would run into someone employing the same tactics. That's what we should be on the lookout for.
I think this is inaccurate. _why conceals his identity behind a handle, and few people think of him as a loser. It's not about whether you use a handle or your real name -- it's about what you do with it.
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