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this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2025
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Privacy
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When was he born? Not everyone knows all the "secret" signs for stuff. How 18 is A.H or how 81 is H.A (Hells Angels) 1% biker clubs have surprisingly much of such codes. 8 is also the number of Khorne in the Warhammer fantasy/sci-fi setting. And before we start with that there are surprisingly few Nazis who play, but the few are very vocal.
Years ago I saw a guy in a crocery store in Norway wearing a "Combat18 Böhmen" hoodie. Buying ingredients for tex-mex taco incidentally. And when I pointed him out to my wife, she said that you are probably the only one in here to know this, and spot him for what he is.
So if Andy was born in 1988 I hope it's why he has 88 in his username.
Here's all I could find about his age in a few minutes:
https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/the-ceo-of-protonmail-andy-yen-says-apple-cares-about-profit-more-than-privacy.html
He was actually born in 1988, according to the author's article. If anyone can find a more reliable resource, please, post it here🙏
He's apparently said he was born in 1988. In another thread others mentioned that would make him 21 when he started his PhD, which checks out.
I don't care when he was born. Who puts their birth year in their username? "Here, internet. Here's one less piece of information you need to steal my identity!"
No. "ItS mY bIrF YeEr" is just what nazi shit says when they get called out on being nazi shit.
Look, I can't comment on the significance of binary 88 in this instance with any confidence, but a lot of people use their birth year in their username.
Is it stupid? Absolutely, alongside demonstrating a total lack of any creativity whatsoever. But it's 100% a thing.
Edit: Lol, will also note the first 'people also search' suggestion coming up when Googling Andy Yen is "When was Andy Yen born", and in the 5 seconds of drunken searching I still haven't seen a birth date.
A lot of people who like trump were coincidentally totally born in 1988.
To be clear, I'm not arguing that people don't put 88 as a clear dog whistle to white supremacists/general Nazi bullshit. This is more to the comment "who puts their birth year in their username?" bit specifically. The answer is a lot of people.
I also am not excusing Yen for his pro-Trump comments - that was fucking bullshit and I'm deeply disappointed - I'm just saying the YOB thing is a thing, but also coincidentally I also can't seem to find a source to prove if he's also doing the YOB thing or something else.
Note to self: Limit Lemmy to 3 beers max, particularly where Trumpian bullshit is involved. And thank god for autocorrect. Apologies, I really should not be interneting right now.
To be clear, anyone who supports trump is already nazi-adjacent enough to get no benefit of the doubt, and I don't buy the "It's my birth year" shit from any of them. Even if they were born in 1988, that's not the reason 88 is in their username.
I also don't believe that someone whose entire personality centers around cannabis has "420" in their username because they were born on April 20th. I don't believe that some fratboy who is constantly making horny comments has "69" in his username because he was born on June 9th, either.
88 is so much worse that I wouldn’t even compare then to the anodyne 420 & 69 examples.
I'm just saying that if a stoner tried to convince me that he had 420 in his username because he was born on April 20, I wouldn't buy it.
Yes, I understood that. I’d be more willing to be convinced in the 420 case, because the stakes are so low. Unlike being a Nazi, nobody gets punched in the face for being a stoner.
Police have a long history of punching stoners in the face and worse. If you don't want to get called a nazi, don't do nazi shit with an 88 in your username.
You're not getting my birth year this way, either.
The account in question is two days old. And it's from the CEO of a VPN service. This isn't him signing up for baby's first AOL account back in 1994.
Yes, a public figure, whose data can be discovered in few minutes, considers his birth year a secret. Also nobody ever used the birth year in their username on the internet.
Also ANDY = 1 + 14 + 4 + 25 = 44, which is half of 88 and contains 14, another nazy symbol. He is trying to pass it off as his name, but who uses their name on the internet? I will check the cabala now, because I am sure there is more.
God, I hope Nick Fury is already grouping the avengers, because Hydra is really making a move here.
If you don't want people to think you're a nazi, don't say good things about trump with 88 sitting right there for everyone to see in your username.
The account is 2 days old. He knew what he was doing.