I think the distinction is that -- as far as I know -- HN does not collect, generate, or publish data that I'm not deliberately intending to provide.

I would complain if my pseudonymity were compromised, or if content beyond what I intended to share was being broadcast.

> It's always interesting to me the number of people who come out on HN to advocate vociferously for ownership of their private data, given that HN doesn't even let you delete your account ;)

It's true HN doesn't let you delete your account, but I'm not sure most HN account information is really "private", since submissions and comments are all public. Maybe a user's voting history is more sensitive. But it's not like HN (to my knowledge) is aggregating data on its users from other sources.

I can't speak for anyone else, but when I signed up to HN I made the naive mistake of assuming that of course a pure tech website would be implemented correctly.

I was surprised and disappointing when I found out it didn't support deletion, but I'm kind of stuck now. Maybe one day I'll scramble my password and never come back, that's about the closest I can get to a deletion I guess. I check all new websites more carefully these days.

True account deletion was one of the first features I implemented into my web service. I don't think any non-government site that doesn't offer it has a valid excuse. For example with npmjs.com you have to contact their customer support to delete your account, that's just bad UX.

it also requires almost no private info, so, technically, you can stay anonymous (modulo a dedicated adversary). Granted, I agree with your point. HN should try and mask deleted account, but the website is public, and therefore the point is moot.