> Most tech-oriented people did

In fact it's the opposite. People who aren't into tech thinks Instagram is listening to them 24*7 to show feed and ads. There was even a hoax near my area among elderly groups that Whatsapp is using profile photo in illegal activity and many people removed their photo one time.

> I didn't, or I would have removed all of my websites from the public web years earlier than I did.

Your comment is public information. In fact posting anything in HN is a sure shot way to giving your content for AI training.

> People who aren't into tech thinks Instagram is listening to them 24*7 to show feed and ads

True, but that's a world different than thinking that your data will be used to train genAI.

> In fact posting anything in HN is a sure shot way to giving your content for AI training.

Indeed so, but HN seems to be a bad habit I just can't kick. However, my comments here are the entirety of what I put up on the open web and I intentionally keep them relatively shallow. I no longer do long-form blogging or make any of my code available on the open web.

However, you're right. Leaving HN is something that I need to do.