> virtue signaling "we don't like reddit-style comments here" ninny
An anonymous action cannot possibly be signaling of any kind. Words mean things.
An anonymous action cannot possibly be signaling of any kind. Words mean things.
What meaning are you ascribing to "signal"? According to a few common ones[1]:
1) two anonymous parties can exchange meaningful signals about each other or a third party thing,
2) one party can receive, either directly or via observation/interception, a meaningful signal from a group of anonymous parties exchanging signals in any permutation or combination between them.
An anonymous consensus reflexively contributes a signal; if it did not, various forms of cryptography would not be possible.
As a meta point, being pedantic only works if you do it correctly. Otherwise it lowers the signal to noise ratio of a forum :)
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1) "virtue-signaling" is an idiom that doesn't directly map to the economic concept in contract theory, so you are specifying a definition the original commenter was probably not using (it's closer to evolutionary signaling),
2) even if we assume the definition of economic signaling, unless there is a special definition for anonymity in the economic context that both you and the commenter share, it is not necessary for two individuals honestly signaling about themselves to deanonymize themselves in order to enter into a contract,
3) more pertinently to #2, I could use examples of theoretical cryptography here, but we already have applied examples: it is possible to enter into smart contracts where both parties are anonymous.
It takes ~33 bits of meaningful information to uniquely identify anyone. Using the example from Wikipedia: someone betting on a sports team might be sending a signal about their own identity as a fan, but that signal is not sufficient to deanonymize them (many people are pessimistic about any given team) and it may not be honest (they may simply be a pessimistic fan).
The down-voters and rightness or wrongness of their actions are a separate matter.
Never read a more US-centric comment on HN towards people who are a.) not native speakers b.) don't have the vocubulary which seems to be necessary to leave comments on HN. But I assume these are the times.
Luckily the most common language in 50y will be Chinese.
Hopefully they are more polite than this.
China has multiple languages and ‘Chinese’ isn’t really a single language. Mandarin is already the most spoken language by a large margin, and even that has several dialects.
In case you aren’t aware, English is spoken in many places other than the United States. Most obviously in England.
Also concerning the nation-centric point of view, people from the UK are way less focused on their country and know other people outside their country exist.
If you are from the UK, take my apologies.
If your from the US, case in point.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Social_justice_warrior#.22Virt...