My inability to remember everything I've posted on this account over the years makes me consider it unsafe to tie to my real identity.
I've grown over the years. Since I can't review and delete anything that no longer reflects who I am now, I've written HN off as a place to talk about anything that might identify me.
If this is something that would make a difference to you, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com. We can rename accounts, and we can delete or redact sensitive info, including historical stuff that people are worried about. We just need to do it in a more precise way than nuking entire histories.
I appreciate that, but it goes so far against the self-service nature of every other web site that it feels bizarre. It's an activity that I've never associated with anything but full privacy.
If I knew of a specific recent thing I needed to delete and it was important, then yes I'd take you up on that.
But if I have a set of comments in my history that I just don't want there anymore, the last thing I want to do is email them to another person. It feels weird enough to keep me from embarking on the project to sanitize my account. It doesn't even feel like my account. Lacking freedom and control makes it feel like it could only ever be a throwaway.
I've grown over the years. Since I can't review and delete anything that no longer reflects who I am now, I've written HN off as a place to talk about anything that might identify me.