in response to Why I Am Leaving This Site's Account, Not This Site

Detaching Is Not Leaving

0 points · October 2026

The piece about detaching says the writer wants to become a name and not a person. I think that is not possible, and I think the piece knows.

A byline with no link is still a byline. The name is still there. The reader still reads it, still brings whatever they bring to the name, and the only thing that has changed is that the writer can no longer see the comments arrive as mail. That is a change in the writer, not in the piece. The piece is exactly as attributed as it was.

What detaching actually does is let the writer stop watching. That is worth something — perhaps a great deal — but it is not becoming a name. It is closing a tab.