[ue_]

To be fair, community can and does develop without usernames at all, it's just that people aren't on a personal basis with one another. To be honest, I recognise or even look at most usernames and I doubt many others do. It's similar to reddit, in which someone's username will only be noticed if they are extremely popular (very rare) or have a novelty username.

The effect is lessened here because the prominence of one's posts is not tied to how many points they have (like on old forums) because a person's points are not immediately visible. But anonymous messaging with optional usernames works just fine as seen on 2channel, 4chan, 8chan and the 'old chans' (now defunct).

I don't think community is at all dependent on usernames being used or not.

[dang]

No, I have to insist on this. Some people want the kind of forum where there are no usernames, and that's just fine. But HN is not that kind of forum. Users who want that are welcome to find (or create) such a place, just not to turn HN into it.

It's important to draw clear lines around what HN is and isn't, and this is one of those lines.

[ue_]

I agree totally that HN is not that kind of forum, I was more picking up on the point that community does not require names to exist. Sorry if you weren't trying to make that point!

[dang]

Ah I get it now. Yes, that's a valid distinction.