[mnicole]

Some of the arguments here are that if you post something to the web, you can't be in control of where it ends up. While I agree with that sentiment on the whole, HN shouldn't be a place where you submit articles that are clearly just somebody's snippet of an opinion, but rather actual news or human interest stories that err on the tech side. Others are suggesting that you just avoid the thread that is about you, and I think that's irresponsible; people have the right to correct information about themselves and their opinions.

We've seen all sorts of ShowHNs where the person who made it wasn't ready to post it yet, but someone got ahead of them. They rush into the comments to do due diligence, but sometimes the damage is already done. Now if the author wanted to post it again once it is finally complete, they'll likely end up with comments like "Didn't we see this already?" and potentially get less click-throughs considering. We've seen blog entries torn to shreds and the author show up hours late to a dead thread, hoping to do any necessary damage control or simply answer questions that could have changed the entire flow of conversation.

Not being fully in control of where my content ends up and not being able to be in every conversation about what I write is a big contributor to why I don't write at all. When someone posts my content here, it's assumed that it's to be taken seriously or that it is worthwhile. Despite that not being the case, people respond as though it is, and thus we find ourselves in this situation.

Even if there was some sort of tag like #nohn or something to highlight the fact that if discussion on the issue should be kept on the site because, as it wasn't intended to be a HN-worthy piece. That way, if it's posted anyways (as I don't believe in blocking the URL entirely), the author's intent is clear.