That's his name on Freenode too. I don't think that's anonymous. He very clearly reads HN, as his "Freenode is FOSS" post links PGs fierce nerds post.

I'm talking about whomever ex-fnstaffer is. That's this person's name on Freenode?

Fair enough, my fault.

They value anonymity?

And for all I know, ex-fnstaffer is a tomaw alt. Do you not see the problem with all these anon new accounts that were apparently created for the express purpose of saying they don't like Andrew Lee? This reeks of astro-turfing, and for all I know it could be one person behind like 5 different accounts.

As someone who has participated on 4chan in the past, I personally have learned to take comments at face value and not place much weight in the names. It's true that anyone can claim anything, and I don't think there is much benefit to seeing an identity tied to the user's posts.

I've seen mobbing in general against both sides of this ordeal, and I would be unsurprised to see astroturfing efforts as well. It upsets me that people tend to stoop that low, but I'm attempting to gather all info I can from both sides in order to come to my own conclusion.