It's a fallacy to think you can play gatekeeper regarding 'hacking' just because I (or more generally the HN audience) like and value one phone ecosystem over another. Surely you knew that already though, right?
He's not playing gatekeeper. Hackers have generally been known to like open systems or to force closed ones open. Just look at history. You're talking about a phone ecosystem, he's talking about a closed ecosystem.
They are implying I'm not a hacker because I like the Apple ecosystem, aren't they?
They're implying that you're not a hacker because you appear to lack the hacker's mindset. Maybe you have it for some interests but not others but from the hackers that I've seen it's usually a driver for much of their technology interaction.