I made a tool to hide HN usernames and reduce bias
Hey HN, I made this tool after I read a pretty interesting pg essay - http://www.paulgraham.com/hackernews.html He talks about changing some HN usernames' colors to orange and then deciding to revert back So I thought it could be interesting to remove usernames entirely. This Chrome Extension just replaces HN usernames with question marks. I've enjoyed using it so far myself and I'm curious what you think about the concept?
I made a tool to hide HN usernames and reduce bias launched on August 15, 2022 with 38 votes, #822 of 3,307 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 4 years on.
In plain words
This Chrome extension replaces Hacker News usernames with question marks to reduce bias when reading comments and discussions. It's designed for HN users who want to evaluate content on its merits without being influenced by who posted it. The tool was inspired by Paul Graham's essay on how username visibility can shape perception. Users can install it to browse the site with anonymized commenter identities.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Replace usernames on Hacker News with question marks to improve the content browsing experience.
Does a similar job
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Chrome Extension to Filter HN Stories by Keyword2017 · github.com · ▲43Chrome extension that allows you to filter HN stories using a comma separated list - ShamariFeaster/chrome-extension-hn-filter
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