[Waterluvian]

Hi Xiyue Zhang!

A few things:

- have you tried emailing [e-mail]? They can help tell you what’s wrong or fix it for you.

- it probably has nothing to do with Linux vs windows.

- “Microsoft is bad” is a mindset that restricts many opportunities. Consider avoiding “black and white” ideas about things.

Good luck!

[jgaa]

> “Microsoft is bad” is a mindset that restricts many opportunities. Consider avoiding “black and white” ideas about things.

I agree. Microsoft is "50 shades of Black".

[KomoD]

They will not help him, nor fix it, there is nothing to fix. He broke the Terms of Service and GitHub certainly wont reinstate him and risk a fine of up to $43,280

[maxbond]

Could we not attach their name to this so that it comes up when future employers search for it? It just seems unnecessary.

[dang]

If OP wants their name redacted they can contact as at [e-mail]. We do that for people all the time.

[Quarrelsome]

If I search for a job applicant's name and see them at 12 years of age trying to use github then that's totally a plus. What sort of idiot would think it a minus?

[maxbond]

Feel free to replace this metanym with something you find disagreeable.

[Quarrelsome]

Ok, I guess it might ruin their chances to go to rock college where they learn to throw rocks and nerds while whooping and hollering. Perhaps a Fourth Reich will rise up that is Luddite and those capable of engineering software will be rounded up and placed into... oh wait that did kinda happen in Cambodia under Pol Pot.

Fair enough.

[Waterluvian]

It’s in their bio? I’m just trying to be friendly to a young individual who is interacting in an often unfriendly context.

[rvnx]

Waterluvian: I also think maxbond raised a valid point; it could be kind of you, if you could remove the name of the child, to not permanently attach its real name to the posts.

He/she can edit the bio later, but he/she can't edit your post.

I'm pretty sure this kid is going to be very successful, especially when you see how he is acting today and curious about learning.

[Waterluvian]

I hear what you’re saying. But minors are people and if they’re allowed on here at all, they should be treated with respect and equality. I will gladly change the message if they ask me to or if a moderator determines that is the correct course of action.

As someone who mentors young people in STEM, something I’ve found to be very important is to respect their agency. If this is a “this person is not competent enough to make the right call in not sharing their name” then perhaps a moderator should be involved and they shouldn’t be on here. But if they’re allowed to be on here and introduce themselves with their name, we should respect that.

I appreciate that you have good intentions. I hope you see the same in mine. If you feel very strongly about this, please don’t hesitate to report the thread. Dang is pretty wise.

[maxbond]

You realize if we did that, dang would have to ban this person? There's no guideline about age afaik, but HN is in the United States & is bound by COPPA.

I think that would be a needlessly bad outcome.

[maxbond]

Thank you, this is what I meant, I wasn't expressing myself as well as I could have. I don't mean to say GP was being unkind, I understand their intention, but it's not fair to be loose with the personal information of minors, and their doing so shouldn't be interpreted as consent.

[maxbond]

I get that, but I don't think it's fair to interpret that as license to use their name, given that it also makes it clear they're a minor.