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tomhowon Vint Cerf, “father of the Internet”, is retiring

I had already looked up the full quote; it’s right there with the full context in the Al Gore and information technology Wikipedia article [1].

In a 1999 interview with Wolf Blitzer, he said “During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.” What he meant was that he sponsored the legislation that enabled the Internet to be accessible to the public, and several key Internet figures including Vint Cerf acknowledge his crucial role in enabling the Internet to become a public utility, which was not a given prior to his efforts.

Sure, he was talking himself up in the lead-up to the election and his language could have been more precise, but it was on off-hand remark in an interview, not a prepared speech or published text, and he clearly never claimed he “invented the Internet”.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_techno...

tomhowon Vint Cerf, a “father of the Internet”, is retiring

Thanks! We’ve updated the title.

tomhowon Vint Cerf, a “father of the Internet”, is retiring

Please don’t post snarky or low-substance comments on HN.

As another commenter has pointed out, Vint Cerf himself credits Gore as playing a significant role in enabling the Internet’s emergence. He didn’t claim to have “invented” it.

tomhowon How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)

Previously...

How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28463482 - Sept 2021 (291 comments)

tomhowon EU Parliament greenlights Chat Control 1.0

The passing of laws that affect technology platforms has always been on topic on HN. That shouldn't be surprising on a site that's specifically for people interested in technology and tech industry topics.

tomhowon Fifth Circuit Says Gov't Can Violate Migrants' Due Process Rights... For 90 Days

We've banned this account for repeatedly posting egregious comments over several years. This is not what HN is for and it destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tomhowon I think I have LLM burnout

Please just flag comments like this, and if you're feeling extra helpful, email us (hn@ycombinator.com).

tomhowon I think I have LLM burnout

We've banned this account.

tomhowon Falling fertility on the left as key driver of US birth decline

Yeah, the topic or policy is irrelevant; it’s important to keep to the guidelines, and that includes being kind, and not posting flamebait or engaging in ideological battle.

tomhowon Real-time map of Great Britain's rail network

Please don't post off-topic flamebait on HN. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: I've reviewed your last few dozen comments, and too many of them are inflammatory with invocations of race politics. Other recent comments are low-substance snark. We need all this to stop. I can see from earlier comments that you know what kind of discussion is appropriate and inappropriate on HN. You've made good comments in the past so I don't want to ban you, but we can't let this kind of activity continue. HN is only a place where people want to participate because others make the effort to contribute positively and observe the guidelines. Please make an effort to raise the standards rather than drag them down.

tomhowon Falling fertility on the left as key driver of US birth decline

Please don't make comments wishing that people – or groups of people – could “die off faster”. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. We've asked you at least once before not to post abusive comments. We have to ban accounts that persist with this kind of participation.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

tomhowon Giant trees have no trouble pumping water to top branches: new research

Please don't comment like this. We ask users not to post generated comments, but we also don't want snarky accusations like this. If a comment seems suspect, you can flag it or email us (hn@ycombinator.com).

tomhowon Falling fertility on the left as key driver of US birth decline

We've banned this account for repeatedly posting egregiously abusive comments. If you're the longtime user that you've claimed to be, you surely know this is unacceptable.

tomhowon The future of Flipper Zero development

I understand you have personal reasons for having strong feelings about this. But the guidelines still apply, otherwise there'd be no point in having them. The problem with posting comments in an inflammatory, enraged style is that the substantive point gets lost in the emotional noise. I'm not sure if there's a viable way to share your experience in a form that is compatible with HN's ideal of curious conversation, but if there is, the style of this comment is certainly not it.

The particular parts of the guidelines we need you to pay attention to are:

Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tomhowon The future of Flipper Zero development

Please don't fulminate on HN. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tomhowon No more than 100 000 faint satellites should orbit Earth

We've banned this account.

tomhowon Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

Ok cool, thanks. Dang and I use “WTF?” from time to time for alarmingly egregious comments. I wasn’t telling someone else not to use that specific term; only to avoid giving energy to a common troll of the kind we insta-ban. Mean comments are all part of the job and it’s fine :)

tomhowon Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

Thanks I guess but can you explain what you mean with any more clarity?

tomhowon [dead]

Please don't fulminate on HN. Just flag and move on. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tomhowon Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban

WTF? Please don't comment like this on HN. It breaks multiple guidelines. Please take a moment to read the guidelines and make an effort to observe them if you want to keep participating https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

tomhowon SpudCell: The first synthetic cell with a complete cell cycle

Comments moved thither. Thanks!

tomhowon Sony will no longer produce discs for PlayStation games starting in January 2028

Comments moved thither. Thanks!

tomhowon Claude Fable 5 export control lifted

Comments moved thither. Thanks!

tomhowon The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

Yes, but that’s easily evaded. For repeat offenders we just ban them again.

tomhowon .self: A new top-level domain designed to support self-hosting

Yeah, comments like that are just trying to get a reaction. Best not to give them oxygen.

tomhowon Knowledge Distillation of Black-Box Large Language Models (2024)

Please don't post like this on HN. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48712718 and marked it off topic.

tomhowon Instagram is incorporating users' photos in ads for Meta Glasses

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720244 and marked it off topic.

tomhowon Instagram is incorporating users' photos in ads for Meta Glasses

Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer...

Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tomhowon Do Babies Dream of Baby Sheep?

Please don't fulminate or engage in battle on HN. If you see a bad comment, flag it, and if you're find one that's particularly egregious or part of a pattern, you can email us (hn@ycombinator.com) so we can investigate.

tomhowon Do Babies Dream of Baby Sheep?

We've banned this account. Please don't introduce generic tangents in HN threads. The guidelines explicitly ask us not to do this. The guidelines also ask us not to register serial throwaway accounts. Please stop, it's a waste of everyone's time. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html