Why have there been so many new accounts created on HN lately? | Hacker News Reader

Why have there been so many new accounts created on HN lately?

6 pointsjavert10 comments

Maybe my perception is faulty, but there seem to be a lot more green accounts around lately.

Where are they all coming from? Are they legitimate people, or socks? Does anybody have a way to check and see if the account creation number actually has been abnormal, in order to confirm or reject my suspicion? (Obviously pg can...)

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You can maybe get some understanding from the data gathered by Hacker News Karma Tracker. This can only be done starting in February 2013, though, since it only includes accounts that have made comments since mid-January.

3326: http://hn-karma-tracker.herokuapp.com/month/february-2013

2013: http://hn-karma-tracker.herokuapp.com/month/march-2013

1115: http://hn-karma-tracker.herokuapp.com/month/april-2013

1557: http://hn-karma-tracker.herokuapp.com/month/may-2013

2717: http://hn-karma-tracker.herokuapp.com/month/june-2013

973+: http://hn-karma-tracker.herokuapp.com/month/july-2013

Perhaps it is a change-in-season thing? (biggest months above are February and June, although July looks like it will also be high.)

I haven't personally noticed it in the short term. In the long term, I mean, we've had accounts for roughly the same amount of time on the site so we've both seen trends and the overall traffic is http://www.archub.org/hntraffic-17oct12.png

Possibly the desire to comment on the NSA stories anonymously maybe? Do you have an approximate date when lots of new accounts were created?

Why would it matter? Are you that bored?

It could mater if the system of ranking on HN is being gamed here, like how the US Military has IP addresses that change the ranking of Reddit posts.

like how the US Military has IP addresses that change the ranking of Reddit posts

Care to elaborate?

http://blog.reddit.com/2013/05/get-ready-for-global-reddit-m... - look at the "most addicted city".

Most addicted city is apparently Eglin Air Force Base. But then how did you conclude that they were changing the rankings of Reddit posts?

i didn't. i am just trying to explain what the original poster was referring to. i would guess that they're making some implication / assumption about organized voting. but that's just a guess.

i thought maybe it would help you, but i get the impression you're more interested in being pedantic for internet points... \me shrugs, walks away.

Because it seems that most of these people are making troll comments, like yours, although that's an even more subjective judgement. Anyway, it's important to detect overt abuse of the community, because in some cases, things can be done to preserve the community.

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