That's the nature of HN though, there's nothign hidden taking place behind scenes, cookies, etc.. Everything is in plain sight. That's one of the reasons many people have anonymous handles on HN, they just don't disclose personal and stay anonymous. There are some people who do not care at all and post thier real identity as well as links to their personal websites, and such. There's a way to track someone using stylometry but that's an entire different story though...