HN loves their acronyms. They sometimes say it's because they were on mobile but I don't believe it.
Or maybe that’s my best interpretation. As it’s also just faster to type PNW than Pacific Northwest and someone who lives there must need to type it quite a bit.
But either way, HN is a community and many people value efficiency and, more specifically, code systems for efficient communication.
aka jargon or lingo meant to exclude outsiders. Not nice.
Would you complain if the backgammon club doesn’t play polo? Is that excluding polo players?
Edit: I guess that doesn't disqualify this person from picking up US lingo, but thinking about it further, someone who didn't grow up in the US might be more likely to use regional abbreviations in general contexts.
Also phrases. "If I recall correctly", "In other words", and all eight different slightly different variations like AFAICT... like what.
(room full of programmers. apparently none of them using any high tech like abbreviation expanders)
My favorite is IANAL because of how ungodly it looks.