Well, you may do that, but I rarely look at the handle until after I've read a comment, and only then if I feel like making a mental note of who it was because I really like what they said or something.
I don't feel like I know many people on HN mostly because it's more of a forum for debate than for making casual banter, the latter being more conducive to personal bonding (at least to me). On old BBS I used to know a lot of folks and met many of them, mostly because we spent the majority of our time exchanging witty banter and such.
There are only a few names I recognize here, mostly because they have a tendency to reply to my own comments with some regularity or always post really insightful stuff.
I don't feel like I know many people on HN mostly because it's more of a forum for debate than for making casual banter, the latter being more conducive to personal bonding (at least to me). On old BBS I used to know a lot of folks and met many of them, mostly because we spent the majority of our time exchanging witty banter and such.
There are only a few names I recognize here, mostly because they have a tendency to reply to my own comments with some regularity or always post really insightful stuff.