Yeah I found that out when I stupidly used my real contact info, and ended up getting spammed all to hell.
WHOIS privacy isn't a registry-level service. It's a registrar-level service.
It’s both. Some domains do not allow WHOIS privacy (.us is one of them), some have it built-in, while most don’t care and registrars can fill in with fake data.
Please don't keep us in suspense ... who is privacy?
They probably meant "whois privacy"[1] (without the space). Whois is basically a way to get information about a domain name (and many other stuff).
Whois privacy just ensures that your address, name and other stuff is not public.
They were probably joking when they asked that question.
Your reply doesn't seem sarcastic, so I take it you genuinely r/whoosh'ed (that's a reference to a subreddit about situations where someone is acting clueless).
Realistically, I don't think HN is the place for those kinds of jokes, which are best kept for reddit/twitter.
Yeah I'm increasingly seeing these reddit-style low effort jokes on here, hopefully it's transient as folks acclimatize to the culture and customs here.
I know ;) Some people still value an explanation though.