It is entirely believable that a person with substantial trace on HN and ties in the field would rather create a throwaway than post such remark under his main account.
There is a world of difference between "anyone who has worked with the guy" and "has worked with the guy + has hundreds of comments on HN identifying career track over the last few years". The former grants each suspect plausible deniability, while the latter pinpoints the true author.
> Anonymity is not a realistic goal.
It obviously is for a throwaway account. Time to reread the classic
https://terrytao.wordpress.com/about/anonymity-and-the-inter...