Please keep in mind that this person is an Ethereum developer and has a vested financial interest in seeing their Ethereum tokens appreciate in value. This may be a conflict of interest and cloud up the actual technical merits of Ethereum.
I find it a bit disingenuous that this is not being disclosed, considering that there are numerous Ethereum competitors (primary, Bitcoin with SegWit, coming 2016, and Storj, Maidsafe).
I still stand behind everything I said regardless of the technology that ends up accomplishing it. I chose to mention Ethereum because I think it has the best shot. If Ethereum fails, I'll be looking for the next best viable option for a decentralized internet.
I thought about adding the disclaimer and chose against it. Maybe I chose wrong. I sort of see your point about conflict of interest, but that line of thinking also disqualifies almost all of the people who are most intimately familiar with the technology.
If you're skeptical, lets have a conversation about it. I regularly describe my position as skeptically optimistic about Ethereum's future success.
> "I thought about adding the disclaimer and chose against it. Maybe I chose wrong."
Yes, when one is advocating for and recommending a product, it is pretty standard (and, in my opinion, an ethical requirement) for one to also disclose that he/she is heavily involved with that product. It is even more important when one stands to benefit -- especially financially! -- from the product's success.
One's credibility quickly goes right out the window when one fails to disclose these basic facts.
FWIW, If this is about his character: Piper is also a known, trusted, and valued member of the Python community.
Last year, I was driving across the country and needed a place to crash. I randomly looked for someone from a PyCon list and found Piper. He was happy to let myself and a friend sleep at his home; he introduced us to his family and greeted us warmly.
So, take his words with whichever grains of salt you find most relevant.
I'm not convinced that a comment on Hacker News is going to lead to any noticeable financial benefit for the poster's company, and by proxy, the poster himself.
Furthermore, I find your comment extremely suspect, considering you also have a top-level comment [1] in this thread that basically amounts to "guys, guys... there's no reason to worry about this bill!"
If anyone's motives should be questioned, it's you.
It's pretty standard around here for people to disclose their affiliations with $product when {commenting about|recommending|suggesting} $product, regardless of any (financial or other) benefit. Hardly a day goes by when I'm reading comments about some $product that I don't encounter one that includes "Disclosure: I'm a developer for $product".
I find it a bit disingenuous that this is not being disclosed, considering that there are numerous Ethereum competitors (primary, Bitcoin with SegWit, coming 2016, and Storj, Maidsafe).