A lot of these sites do it deliberately to annoy people on hackernews, it is so funny :)
Suppose it's challenging why having an anime character next to a blurb of text is embarrassing.
As much as I hate "both sides" discourse[0], it's interesting that I see the same memes in both right and left contexts - I wonder of a creation of a "second language" to discuss divisive politics is enough of a force to spread it, or of it is intentional coopting of another sides language to dilute it.
E: [0] HN is not the place for the rest of my feelings on this. Both sides aren't the same is enough to suffice here.
What exactly is embarrassing about this?
The author probably likes seeing an anime girl, and feels that displaying one on their page expresses an interest in anime, tech, and a casual tone for their writing.
I have no issue with it in its original Japanese setting and I wasn’t aware of its use by the LGBT community but it seems far less depressing in this case.
Watching someone be genuinely enthusiastic about something is wonderful. Society has far too much cynicism, and watching it beat that into children as they grow up is no fun. I see a lot of adults who treat things that way.
Maybe it's a generational thing, maybe it's my circles, but I've seen plenty people appreciating and gushing about people sharing their interests. It's even in the memes, here's an example:
> Everyone wants an autistic gf who infodumps abt video games and linguistics and whatever up until day 43 of the relationship when you get a paper cut and she starts trying to drink your blood
But isn't the question what they are being enthusiastic about? I would certiainly agree that there are some things that considered noble and respectable (helping the sick, science, the right kind of activism for the right kind of people, ...) that most admire. At the same time I think most recognize that there are destructive or non-productive things one can be enthusiastic about to the point of obsession. While having an anime girl on your website or being a furry is usually not destructive and ignore the cultural popular images of people like these, then they are at least non-productive in the sense that neither society nor the individual themselves grows from engaging with the topic. You can study engineering and improve human technology or write and learn how to better express yourself, but I don't see how anyone can progress as an anime weeaboo beyond a self-contained culture that might value if you know the names and details of all characters by heart. As soon as you step out of this bubble, the value disappears.
> Maybe it's a generational thing, maybe it's my circles, but I've seen plenty people appreciating and gushing about people sharing their interests.
I don't know what generation you are referring too. I'm Gen Z and obviously have different feelings about this. Sure, I enjoy talking to people who share my interests, but I know when and where the right place is. I don't go out with friends and insist on talking about e.g. Emacs, and I certainly don't want to be perceived as someone who superficially is only interested in my own topics, not caring to engage with topics that others care about.
(Btw. thank for your respectful tone, I appreciate that).
A lot of these people tend to be quite isolated from society in general, so they end up losing their sense of embarrassment entirely. Doing things that other people find weird or that make other people uncomfortable ends up becoming a sort of hobby for them (and often becomes their personality entirely) since they effectively have nothing to lose over it.
I’m in this picture and I don’t like it, but I vouched anyway. It’s an interesting perspective I hadn’t considered before, and broadened by horizons a bit.
The comment I responded to was dead. I don’t feel it really violates the site guidelines. Although some people might take it personally, which could make it sort of flame-bait-y and result in flags.
In at least one case I know of, by being so outrageously competent that they know it won't hurt their ability to get a job.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itasha
As an example, I believe to recall the first time I felt this way as a child, perhaps age 4 or 5. There was some sort of a meeting and somehow a kid felt prompted to go up to the whiteboard and start explaining everyone the Bionicle alphabet (https://bionicle.fandom.com/wiki/Matoran_Alphabet) with unreasonable enthusiasm. I was into Bionicles myself, but remember thinking to myself, "Don't you know how you look like? Don't you know that nobody cares? Have you no sense of how others perceive you? If I hadn't seen how this looks like, would I have done something like this eventually?". I don't know how others brush these impressions away with a "Good for him".
Anyway, to answer your question: I'm not sure there's any personality traits I would call "embarrassing". There are some I would call harmful, sure, and there are some that are associated with being socially inept or less cool, but I don't think there's a category of personality traits that are just embarrassing.
To your specific example: Being enthusiastic about things isn't embarrassing; it invites others to share that enthusiasm, either because of a shared interest or simply because watching someone be enthusiastic about something is enjoyable.
Proof: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2021/01/i-told-you-so-2021-edition/