alt Hacker News...given the line you quoted from the FAQ, I'm a bit confused about why you are still wondering. That seems about as straight forward of an answer to your question as one could expect.
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walletdrainer • today at 6:45 AM
>I'm a bit confused about why you are still wondering
They did admit to being German.
It is clearly a word play, but I guess their question is whether or not the old = alt connection was made or not.
(Of course the alta in Altavista is from Spanish "high", but that doesn't really change anything)