Ask HN: If GitHub is social coding, why can't I 1:1 communicate with users?

A private conversation would not be social because only two people benefit and everyone else get nothing from it (e.g. It would be anti-social!).

Anyway most active people on GitHub list their email and/or twitter handle. Contact them those ways for 1 on 1 discussions.

If you're talking about Github code, why not talk publicly?

If you're not talking about Github code, why talk on Github?