Some Tips to Improve the Civility on Hacker News
bothsidesofthetable.com
bothsidesofthetable.com
I see how one could consider the language used in comments as hard or even offensive and insulting. I also see how one could make a justification for using such inflammatory language when responding to an equally inflammatory and one-sided article, although I do not find it excusable. Nor do I find excusable one's desire to prolong such "mean spirited" debates.
That being said, I do not find flag-able comments in general as something useful. Up- or downmodding fills the same niche. Usage of real names is also not going to happen and serves no purpose other than holding grudges. With regard to notifications about submitted stories, I don't even know how Disqus et al implement this, so I'm reluctant to comment - I had no idea a platform to allow such tracking existed.
But now put yourself in the author's shoes. Then suddenly you can see how direct the comment really was, calling you a "fucking asshole". Not exactly the height of discourse here on HN. Calling names is a far cry from writing a one-sided article. It was only inflammatory in that he disagreed with most people, and said people are horribly sensitive about this topic.
I'm well aware that people upvoted it because they agreed with the sentiment. I was trying to say that this is not a good thing, and that the name-calling (not just "caustic wording" mind you, name-calling is a different beast) should have stopped any upvoting in spite of any agreement. I'm sure many on HN would disagree, since people mostly voted those comments up.