Whatever. I'm not going to stand by and let you two call me a liar, a sock puppet, a white knight, etc. This will be my last post until I can resume posting under my normal account too.
So you think 5 accounts, the newest of which was created 203 days ago, all came together randomly to trick you into believing my (75j's) story?
Again, these are not sock-puppets, they are just older accounts. I'm not using them to do anything deceptive, or downvote you. But how else am I supposed to prove my point that I've been here longer than 16 days?
I would be posting this from my current account but apparently HN locks you out for a long time when you get downvoted heavily and post a lot.
> It could also mean the more obvious, "I've been here for 8 years but under a different name."
Bingo. Why didn't you start with the more obvious interpretation?
I've been here in my estimation for 7-8 years, with maybe the first 2 years of that being lurking. Check that 4 year old 'ledge' account too and you'll see that all the facts and stylometric features line up.
When the 'submitting too fast' limitation (which ironically is because you people were downvoting me) is lifted on my current account, I'll be happy to angrily post from there again too.
And I'm not using any of these other accounts to downvote anyone, or do anything deceptive. But how else could I prove that my current account being 16 days old is meaningless? I have made probably 30+ accounts on HN, and I wish I could find one of the 5-6 year old ones and log into it to really drive it home that you're wrong.
I am not judging him at all. He sounds like someone I would like a lot. I have had addiction problems in the past, and so some of my past behavior could have rightly been called insane too.
I live in Phnom Penh and I know some people who were acquainted with Gottfried. Without gossiping too much about him, some stories I've heard definitely characterize his behavior as "bordering on the insane".