[FLUX-YOU]

>Real question: Is there some social etiquette rule that says describing to a news audience as "unknown" is rude? Honestly, I've never heard of that.

You and the other person calling it a compliment are either the same person, or you're both social robots who think referring to human beings as Unknowns is a nice way to treat a person.

Just use his name in the headline, how hard is that?!

[sctb]

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18093989.

[jasode]

>Just use his name in the headline, how hard is that?!

Because "unknown" in the title is more descriptive of the general public's (lack of) awareness of the person's identity. (I assume Bloomberg's audience is mostly North America.)

It's very common to use "unknown" in the title and the full name in the body of the the article which Bloomberg has done here. The article's first sentence has his full name: Zhang Yiming. To me, this appears respectful and not insulting.

>You and the other guy calling it a compliment are either the same person, or you're both social robots

I think throwing a veiled insult at me is ironic.

[ArchTypical]

>> You and the other guy calling it a compliment are either the same person, or you're both social robots

> I think throwing a veiled insult at me is ironic.

That wasn't a veiled insult, nor was it ironic, which is funny.

[coldtea]

First, you're being rude (both for implying the "same person" and for calling them "social robots" because they disagree with you).

No, calling someone an unknown is not by itself treating someone bad. It depends on the context.

If you say it dismissively ("you are an unknown") to imply your superiority then it's bad manners. If you merely inform readers for a fact (that he came from nowhere to create a huge company) then it's not.

>Just use his name in the headline, how hard is that?!

That wouldn't convey the information they need to convey.

[weberc2]

I guess I'm a social robot too because I also don't understand taking offense to this.