That scenario isn't the same thing at all. A lawyer has recurring income, and something like HN is merely a source of new business. HN closing stops growth, but you don't lose the existing income sources.
Demand Media isn't the same - "Google traffic" was the recurring business. When that went away they were screwed.
(Also, I think it's inadvisable to name real people in hypothetical scenarios without their permission.)
True that a lawyer has recurring income. A "book" of business so to speak. So you are right that the situations are different. But my point is that if you are depending on something to bring you new business in a certain way you have to be careful that that thing doesn't and can't end arbitrarily. To the best of your ability at least. Or be aware of the dangers of losing it (when signing that new lease). Generally if you pay for something you have more control because the transaction is less lopsided.
"Also, I think it's inadvisable to name real people in hypothetical scenarios without their permission"
Why? Grellas is a public commenter here (whose identity is well known) on quite a large scale. And he is referred to by others in comments. To me it's really no different than making a comment on any commenter.
Now if I said "Jane who works for PG" (just made that up) "has to be concerned if bla bla bla" that would be different perhaps.
For that matter tptacek has mentioned his wife's name as "Erin" iirc. If he hadn't mentioned her it might be wrong (if I knew her name) to disclose it or to talk about her in any way or that he is even married. Or to disclose the street which he lives on. Etc.
I would be curious what others think about this. Not sure I see how using grellas as an example was wrong but I'm open to others thoughts on this.
"Also, I think it's inadvisable to name real people in hypothetical scenarios without their permission"
Why? Grellas is a public commenter here (whose identity is well known) on quite a large scale.
Because you are inserting them in a hypothetical scenario.
Imagine the case where an investor Googles their name, finds your discussion of the supposed weakness in their business model and refuses to invest because of how weak their business model is.
Or - perhaps even more likely - imagine software that runs sentiment analysis on people's usernames. Suddenly you have associated them with negative sentiment...
Demand Media isn't the same - "Google traffic" was the recurring business. When that went away they were screwed.
(Also, I think it's inadvisable to name real people in hypothetical scenarios without their permission.)