Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#61

Post by krapp » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 9:47 AM UTC

kazinator wrote: post #51

krapp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacker News doesn't use a database - data is stored in Arc Lisp closures in flat files. I'm not certain how it handles usernames, though (I've played around a bit with Anarki, but can't remember) but I suspect it would probably involve a lot of file parsing and editing, assuming each username is literally just copied into a field in each thread file.

> data is stored in Arc Lisp closures in flat files. Are you sure? What the word "closure" usually refers to isn't an externalizable object used for persistent storage.

Well, It uses s-expressions printed to text files. I don't know if that should be called using closures or not, if not, fair enough.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#62

Post by MikkoFinell » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 12:46 PM UTC

baron816 wrote: post #34

I've had a comment deleted long after I posted. I had to email them. I'm sure they'll delete your account if you do the same. I don't know why they make you contact them though.

No they will actually refuse to delete your account as well. They did however present the option of renaming the account, but then it turned out that's not possible either.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#63

Post by MikkoFinell » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 12:52 PM UTC

kgwxd wrote: post #30

tjr wrote: post #2

Might be a good question for hn@ycombinator.com

4/20/2016 Me: I'd like to either change the username ([redacted]) on my account or delete my account completely. Can help me do that? HN: Account renaming is something we plan to implement but haven't yet. You're welcome to email back in the future and check if it's done yet. HN doesn't delete accounts. We do sometimes delete specific comments when users are worried about getting in trouble from them. Would that help…

Facebook--the most insidious and intrusive data harvester in history--at least lets its users ostensibly rename their profile and delete their account. Why does HN give less of a fuck about its users than Facebook does?

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#64

Post by danieltillett » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 1:41 PM UTC

leesalminen wrote: post #45

megaman22 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a very vocal subset that is supportive of GPDR. There's an often downvoted to hell subset that is skeptical.

This. As a founder of a small SaaS product that has never (nor plans to) sold or monetized user data GDPR has presented issues for us. Especially because EU represents As a human, yes I care about privacy and the right to be forgotten. As an entrepreneur, these barriers of entry piss me off.

Unless you are in the EU just don't worry about it. Think of it has EU shotgun to the foot that lets non-EU startups get ahead.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#65

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 1:50 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#66

Post by ikeboy » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 3:00 PM UTC

wingerlang wrote: post #57

ebbv wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly if you delete your reddit account but don’t spend the time to delete all your posts and comments before you do, they won’t go away.

Deleting a comment on reddit also doesn't delete the content. For that to happen you first need to edit it to be blank, then remove it.

Can't edit comments over 6 months old or so

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#67

Post by icebraining » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 4:01 PM UTC

xg15 wrote: post #56

Mononokay wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They require every founder to come to the US and register as a US company. That's not particularly touching it.

Unless they IP ban the whole of the EU, they will still be subject to the GDPR once any EU citizen accesses their site. (Which, agreeing with AmericanChopper, is a purely theoretical thing - until the moment where YC wants to conduct any kind of business in the EU)

Simply being accessible from the EU does not automatically mean the GDPR applies to a site. See Recital 23: https://gdpr-info.eu/recitals/no-23/

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#68

Post by mattmanser » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 4:11 PM UTC

Mononokay wrote: post #14

emteycz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since the HN crowd seems to strongly support GDPR, how is this in line?

I've seen a lot of dislike for GDPR more than anything. Despite that, there are a few reasons why it's "in line." It's a public forum, and having a historical record publically available to all users is somewhat mandatory to serve as an effective one. It prevents linkrot, which is something particularly severe everywhere else. Above all of that, HN doesn't sell data or really keep anything beyond what you've said - t…

One of the main purposes of the GDPR is link rot.

For your old sins to be forgotten, just like we used to be able to before perfect computer memories came into being.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#69

Post by Mithaldu » Mon, Apr 23, 2018, 6:21 PM UTC

JPLeRouzic wrote: post #3

There is an unofficial FAQ by Jacques Mattheij, with an answer to this very question: https://jacquesmattheij.com/the-unofficial-hn-faq#deleteacco... There is also indeed the official FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

Sounds like the correct response then is to start sending DMCA requests?

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#70

Post by imron » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 2:22 AM UTC

hoodoof wrote: post #48

imron wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which under some circumstances they want to. Right, and the flipside is that not being able to delete comments makes people think a bit more carefully before posting, which improves the quality of the comments and the site.

It could also be argued that comment quality could be improved by allowing people to delete comments at any time, not just for 2 hours after creation of that comment. People should be allowed to look back on a discussion and say "hmmm.... seems an ill considered and negative comment, I'm going to delete it". As it stands, an ill considered comment is set in stone after 2 hours.

> It could also be argued that comment quality could be improved by allowing people to delete comments at any time

Ok, but what's the argument? What specific incentive for good comments or disincentive for bad comments is there with such a system? If anything, there's no disincentive for ill considered comments because you can always come back at any time to clean up your bad behaviour, but in the moment of commenting, there's nothing holding you back. Compare that with:

> As it stands, an ill considered comment is set in stone after 2 hours.

Which is a clear disincentive for making ill considered comments. Having such a system in place certainly makes me consider my comments more carefully before posting.