
Why is the font color for this one HN user profile name green? - hgarg
profile name of HN user &quot;Rabble_Of_One&quot; shows up in green font. While for other users, it&#x27;s default. What&#x27;s the difference.
======
ColinWright
What follows is extracted from my comment 1543 days ago to exactly this
question, and lightly edited.

You do know that pretty much every page has a search box ...

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopul...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=green%20usernames&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)

It's even the top result (for me) on Google:

[https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username)

You can many, many, _many_ answers from Google if you also add "hacker news"
to the search string:

[https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=green+username+hacker+news)

I know that here on HN it's generally regarded that if you start with "I know
I'll get downvoted for this ..." then you simply shouldn't say it.

But having said _that,_ there are times when unpopular things need to be said.
I'm genuinely not trying to be snarky, I'm genuinely not trying to be rude,
and I'm genuinely not trying to be superior. I genuinely think people really
ought to do some homework before asking questions.

When we create a web site we often provide a FAQ, and we hope that people will
do some homework and check the FAQ before calling the support line, or sending
an email.

Why don't we ask the same of ourselves? Why shouldn't we ask that people at
least wonder if the answer has been asked before, and then search.

So I'm not providing the fish, I'm trying to teach you how to fish. I'm not
going to give the answer yet again, I'm telling people how to get the answers
for themselves. It shouldn't be necessary, and yet it is.

It's possible that people will downvote me, but understand that I'm actually
trying to help the community. The question is, and it's a genuine one, how
_can_ we say RTFM without sounding snarky?

~~~
DanBC
If a thousand people ask "Why is this username green" we can say it's problem
with those people for asking, or we can just accept that the UI for HN is
opaque and difficult to understand.

And a bunch of it is _not_ documented, so searching does nothing.

The fact that the algolia search is suboptimal doesn't help.

~~~
ColinWright

        > And a bunch of it is not documented,
        > so searching does nothing.
    

And yet the search does return comments that contain the explanation.

    
    
        > The fact that the algolia search is
        > suboptimal doesn't help.
    

And yet the search _does_ return comments that contain the explanation.

A search doesn't always return the answer, but (a) in this case it does, and
(b) _people should try the search first._

I agree with you completely that aspects of the UI for HN are opaque and
difficult to understand. But if people want to understand them then _they
should search first._ If they can't find the answers they can then say "I've
tried this search, I've looked here and there, and I can't find the answer -
could you help me please."

Trying to find the answers on-line should be part of the Hacker ethos, and
should be tried _before_ asking other people to spend their time answering
questions that have been answered before.

------
DanBC
New users have a green name.

This is supposed to allow existing users to give gentle advice about how HN is
supposed to work. sama (or maybe pg, or dang) said that they check
/noobcomments regularly and upvote the good comments and provide a bit of
advice if needed.

------
herbst
new users are always green ;)

