This is the best HN comeback of all time: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Also the subject of the funniest HN thread ever:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

You should see one of my all-time favorite Hacker news threads:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Wow, this thread reminded me of the "best HN comeback of all time":

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Sorry you're entirely right. I just can't get over how unbelievably amazing this is: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

One of the best comebacks in HN history.

The legendary "Did you win the Putnam" comeback.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

This is one of those epic replies[1] that makes HN so neat. Wondering whether anything lives in Iron Mountain's hostile environment? No worries - the guy who provided software support for that project will elucidate the matter (with links to boot!).

[1] Perhaps the most epic of epic replies was Colin Percival's legendary snorter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Of course worth mentioning is the “comeback of all time”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

This is an all-time gold:

"Did you win the Putnam?"

Yes, I did.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

A little bit of trivia for people who might not know: cpercival was an integral part of one of the favourite HN threads of all time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

The legendary "putnam" one, ofcourse: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Mine is the greatest comeback on HN, including comments 'pg

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

"As a matter of fact, I did"

The greatest HN comment is obviously cperciva's: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Probably still ranks #1 in ultimate HN comebacks:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

He already holds the best HN rebuttal of all time:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

cperciva is the HN comeback of all time:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

(And folks have had since 2007 to top it.)

Funny enough, that started with a "I don't know you" as well:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35071

I think that honor still belongs to "Did you win the Putnam?" [0] but this is definitely still in the top 5.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

I'm reminded of another legendary HN thread:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

This wasn't a prediction, but I'd say it still qualifies as a remarkably prescient question: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Actually this option exists in practice, not just in theory. See http://www.tarsnap.com/ for details.

The author of that code is the FreeBSD security officer. He is also the author of my favorite comeback ever on Hacker News: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

(Or navigate up to http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35068 and get some context. cperciva really is impressive.)

I don't know any easy way to search for one liners.

Not really a joke but it's the best example of funny-on-HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Definitely (but not as well as this[1], which is pure gold). I left it open that I could be wrong, and I'll graciously accept the word of someone with real boat burning experience that my expectations are way off. ;)

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

If we are into comments anyway, the "comeback of all times"[0] is a winner, a reminder to treat all those pseudonymous or even semi-anonymous handles carefully : )

[0]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

The HN comment - "comeback of all time".

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

The thing I liked about the thread is also has Drew Houston from Dropbox talking about his then startup idea.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35095

Exact link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

I guess no one managed to top that comeback in the last decade (thread is 3600 days old!).

The Putnam is also the source of one of the best burns on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Indeed! That's what I was implying with "based on your comment history".

It required me being curious about why a random commenter would make such an authoritative (but not backed up) statement, remembering PHP's creator's name and making the connection that their username may be related to it, then reading his Wikipedia page and digging through his comment history to find a couple from 2015 (about UWaterloo) and then 2013 (about his age!) as supporting evidence!

Now I feel creepy.

Edit: (but really, it's nothing compared to the awesome "Did you win the Putnam" response https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079)

What pg has called the "comeback of all time". After a back-and-forth about someone's chances of success. from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079:

> Of course it's a bold statement. But if I wasn't bold...

> Did you win the Putnam? If not, please don't be "bolder" than this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Vakil

> Yes, I did.

This comment makes it to my Top 3 "I know what I'm talking about" list on Hacker News. Number 1 and 2 being the guy who won the Putnam, and the guy who burned the wood from a boat.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10803552

I thought this was going to be a collection of classic HN Posts/Comments, like cperciva's Putnam comment[0] or the pessimistic dropbox comments (and the retrospective by the commenters).

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Ha, I see three of those are already gray-visited for me, and clicking them now, I see why!

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18442941 was a great look at Oracle DB development

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079 was one of the most hilarious situations of all time on HN

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 was a fun early Dropbox "No wireless, less space than a Nomad, lame" moment.

I'm gonna have to check out some of these others that I haven't seen before! Great list, thanks!

Some comments that I will always remember -

On Catering to the privacy crowd- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24123463

Users of peanut butter shouldn't have to think about whether it contains glass and razors - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20634128

On Telegram seven years ago - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6949814

Indian Govt blocks a PHP project for terrorism and anti national content - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8820378

On Show HN:Dropbox - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

Did you win the putnam? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

I see your dropbox comment and raise you a "did you win the putnam":

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

This reminds me of the classic "Did you win the Putnam?" thread. :-)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Thanks for your work on e-mail security!

That one reply in that flame war is still hilarious so many years later. To anyone who didn't get the reference of Putnam https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

You might like this classic HN moment. Don’t miss the follow up down the bottom: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

“Did you win the Putnam?” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

I often pick up a book recommendation or other recommendation from here.

I read Blindsight by Peter Watts after a comment recently, and it has really stuck with me. It's a sci-fi book about contact with an interstellar intelligence.

It's free online.

https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

For me the real gems are usually just on-topic comment threads for topics I want to read about. It's incredible when a domain expert shows up to give us the nitty gritty, and it happens--all the time.

There's also always this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Gotta be the Putnam Award comeback: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

Hrm. My OG vote goes to:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079

> pg: That has to be the comeback of all time.