HN:
- asks you to self-assign a new name upon joining
- has a leader
- has a hierarchy (rating system)
- esteemed texts which promise by adopting a strange method (Lisp) that you can achieve higher levels of wealth and self actualization
should I be worried?
No, you can (ok, I admit: try) to leave any time.
/etc/hosts 127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com
But that's not leaving either. Your posts are still out there, and so is your account. In fact, no one except you would know you left.
There is a reason why the EU mandated the right to deletion.
I do that once in a while when I find myself wasting too much time participating here. It increases the friction quite a bit, but eventually I cave and recover the password.
If you really want to be serious about it, have to change the email address first, then toss the keys to that.
I don't run mine on 127.0.0.1 but that address is a very popular default
if you can't leave a cult, it's coercion. if you can't leave hackernews, it's addiction.
If you read Hackers and Painters without realizing you're getting conned, yes. Very much so.
> Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals.
HN is definitely a social group with unusual and often extreme philosophical beliefs that often aren't mainstream. (And that's why I keep coming back!)