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Comment by dec0dedab0de | Hacker News Reader

Meh. I think it's fine for them to take it, but they should have left a link up to his new account, and publicly thanked him for keeping an eye on this url for so long. Maybe throw in a 16 year credit towards free service or something. This just seems like a super easy opportunity to make fans. It reminds me of how Microsoft messed up with Mike Rowe soft at first.

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Thought experiment:

Your business is located at 420 West 69th Street. Along comes X and takes that address away from you? Would you like that?

A "would you like something being taken away from you?" is not a thought experiment but a suggestion on what to think.

Secondly, I don't think this comparison with an address by a random stranger for no apparent reason is correct to begin with

Thought experiment:

Someone takes something* away from you. Would you like it?

*thing wasn't yours to begin with

I would not like that, but also understand how purchased real property, which has a long history dating thousands of years and a whole legal system and framework on point getting into even minutiae (Rule Against Perpetuities anyone?) is different than squatting on a generic username on someone’s new tech platform for free.

In the former case, I would usually have legal recourse, unless this is a dystopian future where Twitter can leverage eminent domain.

It’s a bad comparison.

If x owned the entire entire street than yes. It isn't even remotely a good comparison.

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