HandleFinder
Security and privacy
username search osint
SHOW HN2022
219points
83comments
#248of 2,570 in 2022
Top 10%of 2022 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
4 positive, 13 neutral or asking, 6 mixed, 20 critical, out of 43 comments about the project. Thread score -0.37.
Execution: 0 for, 14 againstIdea: 1 for, 3 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 2 againstPerformance: 2 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fast and easy to use compared with the CLI.
From 2 comments
Why use React for something this light? People wants to use a frontend frameworks for everything now, I miss 1998. Just kidding, great work! Way more accessibly to the average…
serjester on HNThis tool is very fast! I used it to find my crush's social profiles and it worked well.
deadalus on HN
Clean, straightforward UI.
From 2 comments
Yep. The wrap around the tool is neat and looks well done based on what I could see, but I hesitated based just that consideration. edit: I thought I should make my feedback less…
A4ET8a8uTh0 on HNYou should also mention you are using Sherlock as the underlying backend which does that actual searching as you did in this post.…
nop_slide on HN
Objections
Many false positives reported for usernames.
From 4 comments
A bunch of the occurrences it "finds" appear to be false positives, as far as I can tell.
jfk13 on HNFalse positive bug list. These always return a match even if there is none: Archive of Our Own Dribbble Enjin Fiverr HackerNews Instagram Quizlet Smule We Heart It livelib
someweirdperson on HNI tried this with my usual username (which is unusual; not many Griscoms out there), and found some false positives. The following sites gave me errors with my username, and if I…
dtgriscom on HNLots of false positives
skc on HN
Privacy and stalking concerns about the tool.
From 3 comments
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I'll just add my unsolicited opinion... Functionality like this, and more acutely, any kind of cross-service, cross-account…
mcqueenjordan on HNThis is amazing! My only fear is that it will benefit more stalkers than genuine users.
acqbu on HNWell, not sure I am a bad actor but reading the comment gave me the idea of typing my ex's nickname and I now discover she has an account on a quite unusual platform of which I…
nokya on HN
Lack of privacy policy.
From 1 comment
You need a privacy policy (or at least a one-liner statement) that gives potential users some assurance you aren't harvesting their username / IP / etc or the results for some…
rkagerer on HN
Requests
Show sites where the username is not found.
From 4 comments
I think it would be useful to show the networks that the username cannot be found on.
mattl on HNThats a good thought. I was considering it but was worried about "cluttering" the site
Ostatnigrosh on HNI echo this request. It was my expectation actually! I searched for my username and was shocked it was used on literally every website you checked. Then I tried a less common…
TheTaytay on HNSome people are liking the UI here, but it wasn't clear to me at first that a [+] meant the username was used on that site. In my mind, it could just as easily mean that it's…
s1mon on HN
Cache results.
From 1 comment
So, you should cache hits. If someone asks the same question again five minutes later, then you shouldn't need to look them up again. Also, it would be nice to show misses --…
bradknowles on HN
Clarify what the [+] symbol means.
From 1 comment
Some people are liking the UI here, but it wasn't clear to me at first that a [+] meant the username was used on that site. In my mind, it could just as easily mean that it's…
s1mon on HN
Questions
Whether Sherlock's MIT license needs to be credited.
From 2 comments
You should also mention you are using Sherlock as the underlying backend which does that actual searching as you did in this post.…
nop_slide on HNThey don't need to add the MIT license. They only need to include the notice somewhere.
Kiro on HN
Alternatives named
Sherlock
From 1 comment
You should also mention you are using Sherlock as the underlying backend which does that actual searching as you did in this post.…
nop_slide on HN
Maigret
From 2 comments
Reminds me of this, which popped up recently here: https://github.com/soxoj/maigret
smcl on HNThere is a similar iOS app implement in pure swift, run directly on your iPhone, open App Store and Search: Maigret to download this app.
magicemoji on HN
WhatsMyName
From 1 comment
https://whatsmyname.app/
kapral18 on HN