skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
We reported a security flaw. They responded as if it was a feature request. We asked whether it would be fixed. They declined to discuss development plans.

There's lots not to like about their attitude (look how they handled their last outage), but we're still customers.
You can have too much self-confidence, or too little. I know which problem I'd rather have.
serious hacking request. How to track an online psycho-stalker-impersonator?
Important: please do not post comments on my blog as we want to track this person.

Instead please send me email as listed on my YC profile.

For some time now, someone who has been impersonating a real person has been writing
hate-filled comments on my blog. He has now started making wild and false allegations of
adultery and 'financial misdealings'. My wife and I think he could be dangerous.

1. Previously they were anonymous but since then, I placed the restriction that Anonymous
comments are not allowed.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3787333977682664075&postID=6036258607431298636

Then he got himself a blogger profile using an OpenId from Microsoft Live.com
This person's email address on their profile is

bk_wordtech@live.com

In his blog profile, he listed himself as Bruce Karlson. President, Word-Tech and location
as Mission, KS.

That has since been erased. Now I see his profile has been made private.

A Google search turned
up Bruce Karlson, president of Word-Tech, Mission Hills, KS.
http://www.wordtech.com/default.html
Phone: (913)722-3334

When I called him, he was genuinely shocked and said someone may have been impersonating
him. He said he has owned his business 30 years and does not know who could be behind this. From speaking with him on the phone, he is not computer knowledgeable.

2. This has continued now regularly.
see the comments on each article:
http://juwo.blogspot.com/2008/02/plea-to-my-church-elders-for-financial.html
http://juwo.blogspot.com/2008/03/if-einstein-does-not-impress-god-what.html

Most recently, last night:
http://juwo.blogspot.com/2008/03/jesus-and-demoniac.html

If he was a genuine person, then he should identify himself and come forward with any
grievance he has.
Instead he is impersonating someone and is on a tirade.
My wife and I have no clue who he could be.
Now a 'new' person with Google id Apollyon (a literary name for Satan. cf. Bunyan's Pilgrims
Progress) has joined in. A few minutes ago, I find he has deleted the Bruce Karlson profile.

3. Can he be tracked from his live id? I complained to Google last week for impersonation
but nothing has happened.
I am going to complain to the police.

Any help appreciated. Again, please do not post comments on my blog as we want to track this person.
thanks,
Anil
If you don't take pills, it's not your problem. Which is the point I was addressing

Society will benefit from productivity gains. Some individuals might be harmed by a risk they chose to take. The article suggests that those undertaking those risks are intelligent and educated, so it's not even like poor fools are being taken advantage of. What's the problem?
If you're going to solve a problem that's not an issue yet, you'll never create anything of value. You'll just be in a looping of solving problem that doesn't exist. Because of youtube, the video copyright law will change. We start startups to make the world a better place: change laws, change the way we do things; not staying on the same corrupted path we're on. When goog started, people were concern on how goog could make sure not to index webpages without webmasters permission. That was an issue; but goog didn't think it was important. Now webmasters pays $1000 of dollars for their link to be listed on goog first page search. Sometimes an issue appears because the mass population hasn't adopt to it yet. I truly believe ones can break any law or disregard a problem as long as he/she has a purpose reason. If you don't agree, ask the US commander-in-chief.
The Air Force says you are enhanced by amphetamines:

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2003/02/57434

(The reporter is a little more skeptical. Then again, the military tend to be big users of statistics, so I expect they have some reason to believe this.)
I was a person you are looking for. Two years ago. The founder took the prototype I built for him in my spare time and had terminated my employment two weeks before my "generous options" granted, explaining to me that it was hard to get funded because there were "too many cofounders" and VCs "didn't feel comfortable". (there were only 3 including me).

It took a lot of effort, time and lawyer fees to get at least something back from the guy. His startup failed (of course).
Point taken. :) Let me ever so humbly posit, however, that this is the exact attitude that separates software developers from software engineers.

If you want to develop software without strict practices, that's just dandy, and you don't have to refer to yourself as a software engineer. It does not follow that software engineering is a joke: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=132640.

On the other hand, if you do want to be a software engineer, these practices can be applied to all projects, no matter how small or high-level. I think this may be what your professor was trying to say.
So the main problem Microsoft is having is poor third party support. Peripheral makers not updating drivers, though they had an unusually long period of time to do so. OEMs mislabeling laptops as Vista ready/capable/whatever when they clearly aren't.

How could MS have handled this better? Make drivers for every known product themselves? Micromanage Vista Ready certifications(that one seems plausible at least)?
good work, good ideas - thanks
Ha, I can't imagine what my karma would be if I got points for the articles I submitted that others posted. But I guess if I cared, I would just post them myself.
Incorrect: if I don't take pills, and all my competitors do, and they're given a competitive boost that they only pay for when they commit suicide at age 41, it is my problem.
It's probably someone you know if they are stalking you like that. I'm not sure I understand why you want to track this person though. Why can't you just moderate your comments and delete anything that this person posts? You'll have a hard time tracking someone like that down.

If you get any threats, then I do suggest showing it to the police. You may be able to get microsoft or google involved to cancel the account, but the services are free and they would probably just sign up again. Also, because of the privacy policies in place, they may not be willing to help you at all.
I thought "hypertext reference" was common knowledge. Or was I the only one who read HTML books for fun back in the mid 90's?
No, but it's an opinion. And opinions is one of the reasons we are here discussing the submitted articles IMHO.
<insert witty one line comment here> ;)
Does the karma really do anything? Or is there a complicated algorithm that sorts comments based on people's karma?
It's hard to represent something subjective in a single number. This problem isn't really solvable. Making the karma algorithm too complex could make it even worse.
I'm pretty sure the sorting of comments has nothing to do with karma of the poster, just the votes on that particular comment, and how old it is - similar to how stories are ranked on the front page.
Why is my thread marked dead?
The exact same criticism could be levied against your competitors who have no life and work 80-100 hours/week. I suspect that 100 hour work weeks are also more likely to encourage suicide than concentration pills.

Supposing that brain booster pills are as safe as working 80-100 hours/week between the ages of 22 and 41, would you accept that they should be legal and brought to market?
If that's the case, then why do people even have a karma score? The karma should just be a score for each comment/article.
probably way off topic or spammy for this site.
This is one of the coolest things I have ever read. Thanks to OP.
An elusive billionaire gives away his good fortune
Ask YC: Does anyone get any value from mind mapping?
I've dismissed mind mapping as a fairly pointless excercise having tried it on several occasions and found it to be not much more use than a fairly messy way to organise your ideas. The thing is, I keep stumbling into people and books who swear by it and sing all sorts of praises. I'm interested, does it not suit certain types of people or am I missing something here? Do you guys find it to be useful and if so would you mind sharing how?
Cheers
Ads
yes, we are here discussing. there's no call for fighting. silly or dumb opinions are inconsequential on the scale of things that matter before you'd want to consider violence.
I can shut off all comments but would that make him desperate?
I kind of like that idea. It's useful to keep track of what people have generally agreed with in a discussion, or to move things up the front page, but significantly less so for the site as a whole.
What sucks about Erlang.
http://damienkatz.net/2008/03/what_sucks_abou.html
Damien Katz: What Sucks About Erlang
I'm not sure if this article is just making an elaborate guess or if it has support for its argument. Anyone have any idea?
It's making a game out of it, which gets a small subset of users maniacal about their Karma score and thus submitting tons of good content. PG = Crafty Devil.
I think it's on topic and not spam. I filed a internet crime complaint at http://ic3.gov.
The karma score of each person should show up next to people's names then. It's kinda hidden away right now.
If the price is bogus - at least one of buyer or seller will make a bargain.
I think it's off topic and spammy because of the title. You essentially ask people to do hacking for you. That's not what this site is about. If you had worded the title differently, it probably wouldn't have been deleted.

You could try reposting. I would suggest a title of "Ask YC: What should I do about a stalker on my blog?"

It would be much more in line with this site.
This book is great. Cryptography. Pirates. Finux. Battle scenes. Fantastic wit.

What more can you ask for? Definitely a must read.
German High Schools ('Gymnasium') are just as nerd-unfriendly as America's.
SMS is poetry. Kind of.
ok, shall do!
I learned something new, "most" is more than less, which is more than more! ;)

But, they didn't mention dstat which is a great performance monitoring tool that integrates sar/vmstat/mpstat functionality and more.
Nonsense. I'm one of those people with no life --- I have a startup, and I have my family, and that's it. I'm depressed when I'm not working.

It's a totally false analogy. I code and break software for a living. I have a blast. Modafinil and aderrol sound like a blast, too. But 20 years from now, I expect to look back fondly on 80 hour work weeks, the way I look back on 2-hour-of-sleep nights with newborns. Unlike the drugs, those weeks won't have scorched my neurochemical pathways.

You talk as if you have some way of measuring the risk of these drugs, or as if the risk was fantastical. I'm not going to have to sound like a alt-med hippie to disprove that.
This seems to question the whole purpose of karma.
When a user upvote a story, isn't he saying "Thanks for sharing this with the community.I want more people to see this" rather than "i agree with the content of this article"?

Karma encourages users to participate in the sharing activity.Its purpose is not to thank the content creator, but the person who took time to share it.

[Vote ≠ Karma]
<insert even wittier reply here> :p
Ask YC: what should I do about a psycho-stalker-impersonator on my blog?
Important: please do not post comments on my blog as we want to track this person.

Instead please send me email as listed on my YC profile.

For some time now, someone who has been impersonating a real person has been writing hate-filled comments on my blog. He has now started making wild and false allegations of adultery and 'financial misdealings'. My wife and I think he could be dangerous.

1. Previously they were anonymous but since then, I placed the restriction that Anonymous comments are not allowed. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3787333977682664075&postID=6036258607431298636

Then he got himself a blogger profile using an OpenId from Microsoft Live.com This person's email address on their profile is

bk_wordtech@live.com

In his blog profile, he listed himself as Bruce Karlson. President, Word-Tech and location as Mission, KS.

That has since been erased. Now I see his profile has been made private.

A Google search turned up Bruce Karlson, president of Word-Tech, Mission Hills, KS. http://www.wordtech.com/default.html Phone: (913)722-3334

When I called him, he was genuinely shocked and said someone may have been impersonating him. He said he has owned his business 30 years and does not know who could be behind this. From speaking with him on the phone, he is not computer knowledgeable.

2. This has continued now regularly. see the comments on each article: http://juwo.blogspot.com/2008/02/plea-to-my-church-elders-for-financial.html http://juwo.blogspot.com/2008/03/if-einstein-does-not-impress-god-what.html

Most recently, last night: http://juwo.blogspot.com/2008/03/jesus-and-demoniac.html

If he was a genuine person, then he should identify himself and come forward with any grievance he has. Instead he is impersonating someone and is on a tirade. My wife and I have no clue who he could be. Now a 'new' person with Google id Apollyon (a literary name for Satan. cf. Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress) has joined in. A few minutes ago, I find he has deleted the Bruce Karlson profile probably since I threatened to call the police.

3. Can he be tracked from his live id? I complained to Google last week for impersonation but nothing has happened. I am going to complain to the police.

Any help appreciated. Again, please do not post comments on my blog as we want to track this person.
I can easily shut off comments, but would that make him desperate?

thanks, Anil
They're on a US tour at the moment. Playing in Boston at the Mid-east on the 19th of March. Great band, a friend in Dublin claims they're the loudest band he's heard in ages.
Don't you confuse approval voting with first-past-the-post?
Mission Hills? That dude is rich! It's probably his only male heir, trying to re-invent my point-based system of materialized karma. Stay out of his way!
Worst. Brand name. Ever.

"Javascript" was pretty bad, but at least it didn't make me think of a boot stomping on a human face, forever.
Monday: Paramount to release thousands of film clips on Facebook
Sorry, Joel got this right, the answer is boring, and isn't going to help anyone write any more clickbaiting blog posts. Hire for "smart, gets things done". What the hell else is there to it?

37Signals has a 4-day work week. Calacanis optimizes for maximim work-hours per week (hoping, for instance, that buying home computers will keep people working 1-2 hours extra at home, and buying ridiculous coffee machines to "capture" the 20 minutes people spend at Starbucks).

Who gets more done? Between Calacanis' company and 37Signals? Is this a joke? Has anyone here given a dollar to Calacanis?
Man, I feel for you on this. Find his IP and block it. If that doesn't work, block his entire ISP with a message that they have this guy to thank for it. Finally, ignore him. If he makes a comment, delete it. Don't respond. From what I've seen, you seem to be feeding into his pathology. This isn't a blame the victim thing, but an Internet thing. The guy's a troll and every time you answer him, you reinforce his behavior.
They offered high-definition videos, using a DivX web player.

They got something that users want (I used their product, and I'm not alone), but they didn't cope well with success. And after serious political issues they closed. More info: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=124574
Just a single data point but I've had a Kindle since the first week it came out and it rocks. It is VERY usable, books are almost always cheaper for the Kindle and being able to buy books with 1 click doesn't hurt (Amazon..certainly hurts my wallet :)
How To Convince Your Investors That Rails Scales
Firefox3 nightlies now support true fullscreen. But now it needs a tab switcher pop-up dialogue. Hope they implement one before final release. More features less girth. Awesome!
So you are harming your competitors by engaging in activities which are potentially risky. Those competitors who can't keep up are harmed, either due to you stealing their clients or because they kill themselves (figuratively) trying to keep up. I have a number of friends working in finance who are in such a situation.

I'm not saying I know the risks of these drugs. I'm just saying that "my competitors might do it, and then I can't keep up" is a silly argument against them. There are all sorts of "natural" ways you can compete, many of which might be risky or harmful to you. One of those ways is working as hard as you do.

I don't think the risk is necessarily fantastical, though I suspect it is probably low. I simply think people should be allowed to take the risk if they want to.
I would be happy and interested to watch a sporting competition in which enhanced humans could compete.

Yes, this would change the focus to "who has the best toys" - but how is this any different from "who was born with the best genes"? To my mind, the element of randomness makes heredity less fair. A striver might be able to get sponsorship for a course of enhancements, but he can't change his birth.
This is really bad for Microsoft, not the content of the story which was known weeks ago, but the fact that this is now the most emailed story on the New York Times site. What was common knowledge in the IT community is now spreading in the "real" world where the consumers live. Not good for the brand.
When is the right time to "ship" your product?
The big question in an iterative agile development model is WHEN is the right time to "ship" the product to the public? Do you stay stealth until you have the product fully baked -- that is say after a handful of iterative cycles and private alpha user testing? Or, do you go public early and iterate in front of everyone?
I would accept a world where you need enhancement to get ahead, for the same reason I accept a world where you need a phone and a car to get ahead. Some people may grumble, but everyone is better off.
You've already spent too much time worrying about this. Disable comments or just let him fade away (i.e. discontinue acknowledgment of his posts). If his pay off disappears so will he.
I don't represent YC in any fashion, so I am unsure if it's kosher to proffer up here; but, I think your mind is too strong for what sounds like a psychological pyramid scheme. It may have been established in virtue and quality, and successively then transformed into a system for transmitting social values (psychological pyramid schemes). So, strip those layers from it, and you're bound to see what it's really worth, and how it might benefit your daily life.
What it breaks, we will learn to fix.

With tech improving as fast as it is starting to do, the species really does need to take a more gung-ho attitude. Rush into the future, because the harm of the present can best be undone with technologies we don't have yet.
For what it's worth, I see it as nothing more than an outline that pines to be a spider chart. It's foolish to say one form of personal organization is better than another if your aim is to convince other people of the same thing. Do whatever works for you.

In my case, so long as I have things written down, I'm good.
I always ask myself: if substance X is supposedly so beneficial, why doesn't the body manufacture it by itself? Or just creates the effect the drug is supposed to create to begin with?
The blog isn't hosted on a service that allows blocking by IP as far as I'm aware. But other than that, I agree.
Digg Users Are Doing Their Best To Kill An Acquisition
We'd all get a little bit further if child labor were allowed, too.
I had that same question 4-5 years ago when I started reading Hackers and Painters as a noob. I wanted to start a startup, but had no hackers to help me. What was I to do?

I went back to school, picked up some books and started learning how to hack. 5 years later, I'm almost done with my degree, there's still a market for startups and I realize how incredibly large the knowledge chasm is between hackers and non-hackers.

I have 3 ideas a day that would make decent, viable startups. Putting those ideas into practice, coding them up, designing the layout, configuring the servers and databases and finally acquiring users... that's where the value is. The idea has little value on its own. I never would have known this had I not started to learn the hacker-fu.

So, may I respectfully suggest that if you're looking for hackers to help you start a software business, and are not one yourself... Take some time, read some programming books, and get in touch with your inner geek. If you are looking for a Hacker to found your business, first look inside yourself to see if there is a hacker waiting to come out.

If you can't do that, then at least offer them some cash to work for you.
You are playing right into this troll's hands. Don't bother responding to him, just delete his posts and ignore him.
I would say that an upvote is saying:

"This is good content. I'm glad you submitted it, I'm glad the writer wrote it, and I'm glad I read it."

Upvotes are NOT saying "I agree with this" (I don't think).

The current karma encourages scouring the web for good content for the community. It does not reward creating of good content for the community... I suppose a person could submit their own stuff if they cared that much.
He could use something like:

http://toolator.com/ban/

Says it works with blogspot.
It's been posted around a thousand times, and the standard criticism still holds: The space program represents a unique, unreproducible environment in which quality is a benefit that outweighs every possible cost.
Personally I'd allow it. There's no huge sector of starving families as in the 19th century. Parents would let their kids take jobs - as work experience and character formation. Plus it would divert the unteachables from an education they merely disrupt.

I know, off topic, just tweaking your nose for such a primly self-righteous response.
Let's break it down. We've got a POINT-BASED SYSTEM OF MATERIALIZED KARMA. I invented it. Call me Lucifer. Is there any way at all it isn't doomed to fail, and soon? Can you think of a mode of benevolent intention operating on a more superficial level? It is evil. QED
http://network.nature.com/forums/naturenewsandopinion/816

http://66.179.50.166/s.aspx?sm=xrWEV6jaPOhKbAU_2blNRDBQ_3d_3...

links from http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/09/debate-around-brain.htm...
I also dislike =:= for equals (and I forgot the difference to ==, it wasn't clearly understandable for me from the book). =:= is hard to type, why not just use === like Javascript?
Um... yeah.

I had a friend who was a missionaries kid that grew up Puapua New Guninea, and contracted Malaria. He went to Russia for a year in college, and ended up having a relapse of Malaria. He got so sick they had to life flight him to Helsinki Finland for two weeks, so he could get treated. My friend was the one who diagnosed himself when he went to the doctor in Russia.

And, I hate to say it, but Doctors in the US aren't really the best at treating Malaria because they just don't ever see the disease. So, your relapses might go untreated for a bit. You'd be better off seeing a doctor who practices in an area where Malaria is endemic: Southeast Asia, India, Africa, etc...
The fighter pilots I've talked to says it only works in heavy doses for short time periods. That doesn't sound very good to me.