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Show HN: Using stylometry to find HN users with alternate accounts

stylometry.net

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Show HN: Using stylometry to find HN users with alternate accounts

#1
Author here. This site lets you put in a username and get the users with the most similar writing style to that user. It confirmed several users who I suspected were alts and after informally asking around has identified abandoned accounts of people I know from many years ago. I made this site mostly to show how easy this is and how it can erode online privacy. If some guy with a little bit of Python, and $8 to rent a decent dedicated server for a day can make this, imagine what a company with millions of dollars and a couple dozen PhD linguists could do.

Here's Paul Graham:

https://stylometry.net/user?username=pg

Here are some frequent HN commenters: (EDIT: Removed due to privacy concerns)

Show HN: Using stylometry to find HN users with alternate accounts
stylometry.net

Re: Show HN: Using stylometry to find HN users with alternate accounts

#7
post #4
post #3

Why are some users bold?

The non-bold are dead accounts I think

It isn't due to a mere property of the user, as, for example, cushman is not bold as the #2 result for tptacek but is bold as the #2 result for icambron.

Re: Show HN: Using stylometry to find HN users with alternate accounts

#8
post #3

Why are some users bold?

Say you see user2 listed in bold on user1's page. That means that user1 is also in user2's top 20 users. In my experience it is often an indicator of a good match (but not always). I should probably explain that on the site.
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