Tell HN: Consider listing your contact details
There are lots of interesting conversations happening here on HN. But sometimes people might want to continue the discussions even after threads fall of the front page.
Have you considered listing your contact details on HN so that people can get in touch with you more easily?
If you want to do that, please note that it’s not enough to fill in the email field on your profile. Only the HN admins can see that field.
If you want others to see your e-mail address etc, you need to explicitly put it in the about text area.
Some members want to keep a low profile and I certainly respect that. But please consider what you might be missing. There’s also no requirement to use your main e-mail address. One could also use an alternative e-mail in order to stay pseudonymous.
There are just so many interesting people here so I thought that one might not want to miss out on all interesting connections that could occur. For example, interesting job offers are not uncommon here.
Just my 2¢ though, do what thou wilt. Peace!
196 comments
[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 499 ms ] thread> Please put a valid address in the email field, or we won't be able to send you a new password if you forget yours. Your address is only visible to you and us. Crawlers and other users can't see it.
And obfuscation is possible for those inclined.
For example, no spammer will (in practice) parse this contact information:
But for a human HN reader it’s fairly easy to decode."To obtain my e-mail address reverse the following text from left to right, letter by letter: moc.elpmaxe@raboof".
Note that grandparent cpach, if you check their profile, is actually relying on the good old (dot) (at) obfuscation system, and not the base64 command they proposed in the comment.
...which would still get you pwned for the snippet in the question I linked.
Again, I know that for someone reasonably familiar with base64 and bash it's obvious that the base64 example is indeed safe. Maybe you want to filter out people that don't have that level of familiarity (or aren't naive enough to execute bash code they don't fully understand). That's both very arbitrary and unnecessary though - HN is quite diverse. But of course, it's also up to everyone what they do or don't put in their profile.
Perl is better, safest language, write only
Then in the next newsgroup over, like comp.lang.lisp, you have the Lisp version of it, and so on.
Not so sure about HN. Sure it's "Hacker" News, but the audience is a bit broader than just native speakers of Unixese. You never know who might go looking for you through your HN profile.
In my HN profile, I use a unique throw-away address that is specific to this site.
It's been harvested in the past. I think only once? At most twice, in any case.
My currently installed alias, the one with a 997-169-9629 local part before the domain, was created on "2020-07-01 16:14 PDT". Almost exactly a year and a month ago. It was used for a couple of legitimate mails; no spam so far.
- only one piece of complete spam
- one targeted commercial outreach (which actually ended up being useful)
- four people following up on comments that ended up being interesting conversations. I even went for coffee with one.
- one person who evidently confused my username and thought I was @pg
https://github.com/bluscreenofjeff/Red-Team-Infrastructure-W...
I feel the shift started happening around the time product hunt got popular, so a couple of years before you joined.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27988065
But yeah, it got very little comments and they were mostly negative.
Copy-pasted templates are never appreciated, but hand-written, personalised outreach that considers the recipient's situation can go down well.
> Consent of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.
And 6-1:
> Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of the following applies:
> the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes;
So whether consent is given or not depends on what people would write in their HN bio next to their email.
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/refo...
> Examples of processing include:
> [..]
> sending promotional emails*;
> [..]
"I see from your hacker news comments you're interested in scaling startups, our project/product .."
Spam.
A few mails. They were responsive when I asked questions back.
Yes, maybe a sales pitch but I found it interesting.
Other than that a few people hqve asked me about lobste.rs invites and I generally give them after looking a few pages back in their comment history to try to verify I don't let in anyone with a trollish or hostile attitude.
Just fixed that for you. :)
I instead got a smiley :) and that made my day.
Got quite some emails from people inquiring about my services.
But as a DevRel consultant, my target client group is on HN probably quite often.
Good thing my account is fully anomym-ized
But just like 95% of people here seem to have a more interesting and knowledgeable opinion that mine, there is always people for whom you are part of that 5%. Just don't be shy of participating. You'll learn more and faster from others. And some interesting conversations will happen, in public or private, for sure.
Also, HMU, yo.
Still, I agree that sometimes it would be nice to be able contact someone directly.
However, I still absolutely endorse the suggestion made here, if unasked contact is of interest to you, especially if you're looking for a job.
But yes, I have made some interesting contacts on here.
I'm not putting any more effort into this because I don't think I'm that interesting.
https://github.com/denoland/deno_lint
You can use it via the deno binary as well.
I don't use LinkedIn so I couldn't contact you there. Maybe adding an email on your site would be nice alternative.
https://wringing.it/blog/permit-a38/
It’s worked well. Gotten a handful of really high quality interactions.
love is the law, & etc.
Interestingly, he met L Ron Hubbard towards the end of his life, and apparently judged the man as a con artist, FWIW
2. I don't want my personal id'ing info ever floating around associated with lengthy diary. Seems like a gargantuan attack surface. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
EDIT: FYI: This is the ONLY social media website I post on. Period. Nothing else. No reddit. No linkedin. No FB. No tweeting. Nada.
EDIT#2: DanG's reply messages directly to me have really changed my dynamic, I've become slightly less hot-headed and come to see why HN is a great place. No other social media site "taught me" this, even from a guy who spent plenty of time on CompuServe and usenet.
Nowadays no one seems to reach out because I've become super boring. :) But it can be fun when it happens.
EDIT: Oh. I didn't have my email in my profile. Welp, that'd do it too.
I'm here to talk about tech and related stuff. It's ok that people don't know who I am. I don't need random stuff coming at my employer.
1) Creative account - Allows me to express ideas that are wild, uncharaceristic of myself and learn from people's responses and many times downvotes. I try to be nice. Many times I am wrong.
2) Real name account where I share things that align with my career goals, public image and 'on the record' perception.
I prefer using my creative account (this) more often than not. I hope this isn't against HN rules.
Link?
I suppose at some point someone will develop some kind of program to make vocabulary/phrasing suggestions to mute the effectiveness of such a thing.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27568709
Could help, as long as you trust each other.
If you are writing extensively both anonymously and non-anonymously, you should probably assume that someone motivated enough could match the two together either presently or in the near future as such technology becomes more widespread.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylometry
It's been used to discover the author of disputed novels from the past.
AI is hype deep-fried in hypesauce.
We might be the edge cases though and in general it works. In the way autonomous driving works in general, just not in unexpected situations ...
I see what you did there :)
A friend of mine asked GPT-3 to mimic a text written by "nindalf". It was so good that I thought it had plagiarised something I had actually written on HN. But it was only mimicking the style of my comments.
I grew up around Las Vegas, and I have a theory about why it's become so trashy. Vegas always attracted lower and middle class people, lots of whom were probably prone to bad behavior outside the hotel/casino. But you used to have to dress well to be allowed in. And dressing in your Sunday clothes, and being around everyone else dressed well, has the effect of putting people on their best behavior. It's the definition of civilizing. Now, people are allowed to wear shorts and tank tops, and they act like schmucks. These things are far more related than most people credit. They're not any more uncouth than their parents, they just feel like they own the place. Which is a mistake to let them feel, if you're trying to run a decent joint.
My partner and I were invited by a magician I knew one night to see him perform at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, about five years ago. They have a very strict dress code, and apart from weddings or funerals I think it was the first time I had worn black tie in a long time. Certainly in a social situation where everyone else was. And it stands out as a really magical night, in part because I realized when I was there, this is how the world used to be. It's a mark of respect to present yourself well. You feel great about yourself, and you feel great about the people you talk to. You're on your best behavior. You might all be any kind of schmuck any other day of the week, but right now, you're performing civilized behavior with each other. And that's what people used to do in Vegas. And that's a really important thing we don't perform anymore, especially on social media; in my lifetime, our society went from suits and politesse, to shorts and badmouthing, to laying in a basement, naked and shitposting. It used to be nonconformist to show up underdressed, and nonconformity had social consequences and required a certain ability to reason and explain it, which if you're the Dude you can get away with. Now I'm the last white man* who wears black tie when I go out in downtown Vegas, and I just do it because it feels good.
* The only people who still dress well and hold themselves well in Vegas are Black people. This is actually true in a lot of other situations, such as, when I used to be a taxi driver, they tipped much better than any other group. And I think it's because they still have a culture that values self-respect and evaluates others by their personal standards, in a way white America has become lazy and forgotten. I say this, considering that my racist uncles used to speak openly about trying to make sure certain casinos and bars didn't attract too many Black people, because it would drive away white business - up to the point of playing country music to drive them away. But stroll up Fremont and check out the white people with their beer bellies hanging out of t-shirts and absolutely no class, then take a look at what the snappily-dressed Black people are up to...
All of this is a very tortured metaphor for why a bit of preparation and self-respect translate into more respect for others, a more civil society as a whole, and here I am, drunkposting what I'm sure is going to irritate people. And yet. At least here I can try to make a case to people I respect, and use more than 140 characters to wind my way there. It's like the airlines. It used to cost a fortune for normal people to fly, so it was a treat, and they treated it as such. Now they knock out the flight attendant's teeth. A person flying Ryan Air might conclude we as a species don't deserve to be treated any better than animals. But charge those people a little more, make them wear a good suit, and tell them they'll have their privileges taken away if they misbehave, and suddenly you have a civilization.
I totally am with you on the importance of dressing. And how dressing can completely transform how you feel.
I'm also totally with you about the racial and cultural differences in dressing standards. I noticed the same trend, I think, in Australia with people of ethnic Chinese background. They tend to dress well in the casino, seemingly at a higher proportion than other races-cultures.
I'm with you also on your theory about the why of the different dress customs. I'm guessing that, also, some of this observation of black people and Chinese people dressing more fancily than 'locals' (even when they are locals themselves) might be a consciousness of the fact that they were looked down on by locals in the past, and a desire to defend against being seen like that by 'dressing above' how they're scared people might see them. I think also Chinese cultures are more hierarchical- and status-conscious than 'Western' cultures (in the present), and this factors too. I wonder if this might be also true of black, ethnically 'African' cultures, but I don't know. And I noticed a similar effect with myself in HK: when I dressed well, the local people gave me more respect and more space, than if I dressed casually and not as fancily.
Your story has inspired me to up my dressing game. Thanks for this reminder! :D
I'm also a real fan of your last paragraph. 'drunkposting' or not, it's really well written. Loved it! :)
BTW the vibe I got reading your grandparent comment was that your wife / mom's side of the family was black. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And maybe it is about coming from blue collar / poorer places and wanting to not be one of them. I think you're very right about the consciousness of having been looked down on, motivating you to to dress better. To stand out in the crowd. My grandparents were Jewish refugees, my grandpa was a tailor. My ex is Chicana, and her dad grew up in East LA, was a Zoot Suit guy. I've talked with him for hours about that ghetto need to stand out, be smarter, dress sharp, keep your wits about you. I do credit that. But in the end, it amounts to having mutual respect with the people around you.
I backpacked in Argentina and Australia for two years, and then spent a few years in Southeast Asia. In that whole time, I never bought new jeans. I was walking around Vietnam with so many holes in my pants, I had to either be a bum or a rock star. Little children followed me around, and I think adults were a little scared of me. Eventually my ex and I wound up in France dressed the same way and they wouldn't seat us in a restaurant, or they were rude if they did. I said, hell. Enough of this grubby shit. I took $2k out of the bank and we went shopping and bought really nice clothes; we hadn't been shopping for five or six years, so we deserved it. I went to Armand Thiery. Still have one of those jackets. Sure it's like the upper echelon of a French version of H&M, but it's freakin light years better-made than anything you can get in the States. And then it was like night and day. Oui Madame, oui Monseur. And it dawned on me... it really wasn't that they thought we were poor or something; clearly, we weren't that poor if we were back at a good restaurant, tipping well. It was that we thought we were making a statement by being above "dressing up", but really we had been disrespecting the place. Now we were trying to look good, and that made them feel good to serve us, instead of them feeling shitty about it. I'm a bit embarrassed about this period of my life, because with what I knew I should have been willing to acknowledge this sooner, but I've seen the whole pattern now, and maybe that's something you have to do in your 20s. If we were a bit more important, then they were more important. The impression I get in America is no one's really trying to make anyone else around them feel good anymore, and so no one feels good.
Nice to talk with a like mind, and thank you for the kind feedback.
I love your story about France, backpacking, clothes. And your reflections on America.
The impression I get in America is no one's really trying to make anyone else around them feel good anymore, and so no one feels good.
Sounds to me like some of the best stuff Chuck Palahniuk would say :)
While understandable, this is in essence trolling. I.e making people reply to you as though you mean what you say, when actually you don't.
I've seen other comments here saying the same thing and it makes me wonder how prevalent this is here.
As virtuous as being unmasked might seem, the risk/reward is skewed exponentially toward the negative. I think the stigma of anonymity is a fallacious aspersion, and that much of the communication we engage in suffers from prejudices rooted in reputation and pigeonholed identity. Let ideas stand alone, free of the baggage of misplaced suspicion and uncharitable bias.
Until or unless the asymmetric consequences are brought to parity, we're human... let that be enough.
However, important topics need to be discussed in a serious way. How do we do it without disturbing the peace? Anonymity is what works.
Lastly, it’s been a proven method of therapy. Confessional, things like support groups (AA), stuff like this is only possible because we honor this principle of concealment.
Blind app is literally a support group at the moment. Everyone there seems to be suffering from work stress. Compare each Blind post to the LinkedIn counter part, how can they be so different? The truth isn’t lining up, but I’m glad we get to see just how different the discourse becomes when your real life reputation is not constantly under threat.
Give people a chance to talk without having to look over their backs constantly.
Exploratory discussion is (hopefully) done in good faith.
Allowing for rough corners and prickly spikes makes it possible to have more efficient and productive interactions. But only if participants act in good faith and put on their thick skin hat. Having to self-censor and shave of anything protruding is limiting and inefficient.
This is not an endorsement to misbehave.
That's not at all trolling, not even in essence.
Trolling is deliberately trying to anger someone in order to provoke them to respond, not trying different arguments to see if you can make it work to determine if that is what you really believe, or if you have a rational point of view.
While there certainly is a gray area there, which is clearly different for the two of us, I think discussion boards have been around long enough for a reasonable smell test.
Account is marked X rated, indicates comedy/parody, and can be linked to my old life as a pretty good software engineer in open source and SV.
The hidden F response needs more real name love from the rich, because bad prescidents are being set legally with me and I can afford to do nothing, not even show up to the hearings. Freeze, Flight, Fight, F——.
OpenTable vs. Iverson, Santa Clara, CA, USA 2019-20.
One can find my personal contact details from this account but I will not answer unknowns. God allows me to have my reasons for this, which can be an attack from lawyers in itself.
Homelessness + Pandemic + Slander + Motivated criminals + Unforgiving commercial dependencies = hard mode, and yet I Tweet insane on real name.
I can come back as pandemic eases, and the legal syatem needs love so others less fortunate than me can dig their way out in general. And me, 3 year saga sofar.
Draft of the open source book PDF:
https://harlanji.com/urban-camping-pro/Urban%20Camping%20Pro...
Twitter is “Potty @____” same handle in blank. We potty out bad food, and bad thoughts alike. I just show my toilet and others sunscribe. I want it all out, children acquire automatic behaviours before Age 7. To retrain requires space for potty without consequence.
If things go right I will break the system and not go to jail and be able to choose my vocation freely.
“Jesus never sinned and kicked over at least one table:” How much is this exaggerated? Okay, we can logically argue if Jesus is real, I am not bent on that but as a Christ (not a Messiah, as we see on Twitter; partially a security move, no ambiguity).
Christ consciousness can be entered via choices and habits, so to those who have experienced it the truth of the situation and contrast may still be seen as holy, yet holiness is contextual and critics often differ greatly.
I got banned from Bay Area Clojure after years of 100% Pro behavior when a new attendant found my non-secret account and complained, rather than socializing at the event it would seem.
I claim this is holy while the call comes. My name was tarnished before all this, and I disagree that it should be a death sentence. To others: I never feel fear beyond realizing I am afraid and choosing loving action. I do use the triggers as Tweets, because fellow humans often share triggers—short form POV homelessness with consent.
If you’ve read this far, dug up garbage: I hope we can cross paths when the time is right. God protects. Day 1,200ish with no fear despite much movement. Peace and be well.
I see another comment mentions finger printing: yes. I assumed so in the past past when I used Pen names still, but I realized that it was put with awareness of Machine Learning. Nothing will haunt me, and this should be normal. They try, but do they do not because each attack is an opportunity for growth.
Use of Public space is required to travel between or to a firsr Private space.
He's seriously one of the best moderators I've ever seen.
Haven't gotten many (if any) that lead to much of anything from a career/business standpoint, but you never know what could happen some day.
I kinda like that if you want to reach me you at least have to Google my handle. Just about the right amount of indirection I think.