

Ask HN: If HN is trust-based, why not remove the passwords? - mannicken

I'm referring to PG's claim of this being a "... a community based on trust..." in thread about faking votes.<p>This is more of a witty and a bit assholish remark than anything else but how much trust exactly there is, and why trust with one thing (like hacking into the site) but not trust each other enough to not use passwords?
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alecst
Here's what I want you to do: 1. find the person you trust most, then 2. send
them a document containing all of your sensitive personal data, i.e. your
social security number, bank statements, bills, receipts, etc. Then call them
and tell them how many people you've slept with last month. Do this because
you trust this person.

Oh wait, I think my comment may have been a little witty and assholish. Oops.

Maybe it's because your post entails that we should have to publicly disclose
our passwords to members that aren't even part of HN, who may or may not be
trustworthy. Maybe people have passwords they use universally. Maybe if you
would have thought your Ask HN post through a little more, you would have
realized how utterly inane it was.

I don't like to be mean, especially here. But what was the purpose of posting
this? It would have been just fine as a comment. And furthermore, if you
understood that your remark was "assholish" (your words), why did you bother
to post it in the first place?

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mannicken
Ok, this was a joke, really :)

>Here's what I want you to do: 1. find the person you trust most, then 2. send
them a document containing all of your sensitive personal data, i.e. your
social security number, bank statements, bills, receipts, etc. Then call them
and tell them how many people you've slept with last month. Do this because
you trust this person.

My mother knows my SSN, has many of my bank statements, bills, receipts, she
probably even knows pin to my credit cards.

I just told her (in person) that I slept with 0 women and 0 men last month.
What next?

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alecst
Hit up a good pub, there'll be plenty of women and men there.

Your post may have been a joke, but I don't feel like you were justified
creating a new thread. Just comment/reply next time.

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slackenerny
I think group is expanding lately also to include people who have nothing much
to do with their time.

While I agree with what PG said in this particular case, I think it should
nevertheless be silently patched just in anticipation of further grow, which
is inevitable, at the very least due to layoffs and which is also bound to
include bored, occasionally malcious, people. And certainly Zach is none of
such. Attitude should change.

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ErrantX
There is a difference between trust and anarchy.

Without the passwords there is _no_ trust. With accounts and account passwords
you assume that one account == one person. That is the trust we put into the
community.

Having no passwords does not mean extra trust: it just means we would have to
trust what people post _less_ because there is now a higher chance that it is
not them. :)

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ErrantX
Haha you can tell this is hacker heaven... I automatically typed 2 == without
even thinking aobut it :D

