They didn't. To quote: "(of course I made this user id up -- you can edit it to whatever you choose it's of course not self-signed)"

Why is this comment being downvoted? It was an honest, albeit rather silly mistake, not a misuse of HN.

It's an irrelevant remark from somebody who didn't read the article properly.

Downvoting:

- reduces the prominence of low quality content

- encourages posters to avoid posting low quality content

quote from the article: "of course I made this user id up"