Hacker News Reader

Is there a difference between this and fanfiction other than most fanfiction authors being willing to at least put a pseudonym on their work?

It seems kind of wrong to avoid staking a position by phrasing your arguments in the mouth of someone else, using words that person didn't use.

View on HN

Are you referring to the absence of a byline? That's because The Economist generally does not attribute editorials to authors. This one is not special.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist#Editorial_anonym...

It's the mix of the lack of a byline, and the basic premise of putting words in someone else's mouth that kind of rubs me the wrong way.

"It is my position that it is only honorable that people should talk about James Damore under their own names." - Abraham Lincoln

That's a great word to describe how reporting is made and used on the web. Nearly all reporting by partisans on their enemies is fan fiction.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com