[headShrinker]

> HN doesn't remove entire account histories, because that would gut the threads the account had participated in, which would be unfair to the other users in those threads.

“Unfair” is not a word I care about. “Fair use”, “pay for hire”, “ownership” and “compensation” are words I care about. Threaten me with ban, ok, get ready. Pay me or delete. You don’t own my content cause you didn’t pay me. Pay me or delete. Period.

[krapp]

>Pay me or delete. You don’t own my content cause you didn’t pay me. Pay me or delete. Period.

You weren't hired by YCombinator as a writer, nor was any contract for employment or payment negotiated as a term for your use of this forum. If you believe you're entitled to monetary compensation for your comments, then feel free to get a lawyer.

You can't, and won't, because even if you could make a case that you own your comments, no one is under any obligation to pay for something you literally gave away.

Mind you, I'm sympathetic to your cause - I'd like the option to at least delete my older comments, I'd very much prefer to be able to delete or at least suspend my account like on Reddit and/or mass delete my comments. Somehow other forums get away with that but for whatever reason Hacker News is sacrosanct and doesn't have to play be the rules of common decency that the rest of the web does.

But your argument here is plainly irrational and probably legally untenable. HN is not going to pay you, and they're not deleting your comments. Just accept that and move on with life.