Andreessen-Horowitz, who most people (and they themselves) refer to as a16z and have the eponymous domain name (a16z.com). They're one of the top VC firms on the planet -- exceedingly relevant to HN audiences and commonly discussed here.
reply> you'd rather say Andreessen-Horowitz, which is just as arbitrary as a16z
replyYes. I know Andreessen-Horowitz and I don’t know a16z. Reading the title i thought it will be about the cryptography serialisation specification. Turns out i was mixing it up with ASN.1.
> Their website is literally a16z.com
I hear now. Before this if pressed i would have guessed that they probably have a website indeed. If you would have twisted my arm my guess would have been andersenhorovitz.com (yup, with the typos. I learned the correct spelling today from your comment.)
> exceedingly relevant for the HN audience
We contain multitudes.
> Yes. I know Andreessen-Horowitz and I don’t know a16z.
replySo the world needs to adapt to your knowledge instead of you learning to adapt to a often used, and well-known moniker?
They just want to sound technical.
replyI'll be honest - I was thinking authorization (a11n?) - so I didn't read it closely enough. But despite that, and being on HN from almost the beginning (with a different account I lost the password to), I still didn't know what a16z was, though I do recognize Andreessen-Horowitz.
replyOpposite for me, I've seen a16z tons of time on HN, and also the domain where sometimes, but the full name would have meant nothing to me.
replyI didn't either. This is an ancient debate that can never be resolved completely, though — because the articles that HN submissions point to don't follow a style guide and there are always assumptions about audience priors. Best to just resolve it and move on.
replydeleted
replySorry, I come here for hacker content.
replyapologies, just a vc firm
replyThe guidelines require using the same title on HN as is on the original post.
replyoh apologies, thanks for the reminder
replyEven when the author submits? :)
replyYes... unless we think it's fine to tailor a title to activate a particular reaction from the HN audience :)
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