I don't think hiding you went to a prestigious school has to be disingenuous. I can be, but it doesn't have to be.
I have a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is a mid-level rank, but it's also the point where a competitor is considered advanced. In tournaments that don't use belt level but Novice, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, I compete Advanced. If I talk to a stranger about BJJ, I never start out with "I have a purple belt." I am going out of my way to avoid sounding like a braggart. I am not worried about failing to live up to my rank, but I am worried about appearing like a jerk.
What you are saying is completely different from someone asking you "What college did you go to", and responding vaguely "Boston" when most people just say the name of the school.
yes, "Boston" would be a disingenuous reply to "What college did you go to". But it would not be a disingenuous reply to "Where did you attend college?" Some people I know say "in China" or "in Canada" ... "in Boston" is just as legit of an answer, and often one that makes people not roll their eyes at you nearly as much as if you say "HAHHHHHHH-VARD!"
Its also customary to say which college you attended if they ask you "where". I also don't know anyone that says HAHHHHHHH-VARD, STANNNN-FAHD or M-AHH-TTTTT. This pseudo-snobbery is all in your head.
If you keep hiding the fact that you are from a top school in order to dissociate fallibility with Stanford, this sort of sentiment will continue.
You guessed that he avoids mentioning his school by name to avoid the high expectations along with it. To operate that this guess has to be true is, at best, disingenuous.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and theorize that, since the start of this topic you've consistently taken Mr. Guo's side, pedantically pointing out rules and etiquette, deflecting from what he actually said, not responding to actual quotes from his writings and posts and your general literal mindedness, that you are indeed one of the name-brand school graduates that he feels is victimized by the boorish snobbishness of the tier-1+n school grads.
Spank me if I'm wrong. But it's the only thing that adds up.
Either that or you are a tier-1+n school grad who's been guilt tripped by this article into rethinking your prior maltreatment of the elite school kids.
This is old by now, but you should be able to see from my profile that I am at a large, middle-of-the-road state school. Note that I haven't actually defended the authors position, only clarified what he said. I'm not sure if I agree with his position. But I've seen very little discussion on what he actually said. I've spent all of my time explaining what he did and did not say. I've spent no time (that I can think of) defending the position he took.
I also like to avoid long, drawn on point-by-point posts, and try to keep things focused by responding to a person's thesis.
Pointing out etiquette has nothing to do with this article, and everything to do with liking HN as a place for civil discussion.
I have a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is a mid-level rank, but it's also the point where a competitor is considered advanced. In tournaments that don't use belt level but Novice, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, I compete Advanced. If I talk to a stranger about BJJ, I never start out with "I have a purple belt." I am going out of my way to avoid sounding like a braggart. I am not worried about failing to live up to my rank, but I am worried about appearing like a jerk.