We don't write comments like this here.
From my point of view, my comment was of the same tone and direction as the immediate parent. Snarky, insulting and full of (in my opinion - well deserved) ridicule.
(EDIT: I appreciate the fact that any forum (HN) would benefit from keeping snark, insults and stupid fights to a minimum and in that spirit my reply was in the wrong direction. In future, I'll try to cultivate a less confrontational and/or snarky tone and be more patient than I was here.)
Having said that, I am a firm believer in the dictum of "you cannot please everyone, all of the time", but I would love to hear the basis for you taking such strong offense to my comment alone.
And, if the entire point of your comment is to inform everyone else on HN that you think another HN user is unworthy of our attention, you should rethink posting the comment at all. Comments of that sort are generally unwelcome.
if the entire point of your comment is to inform everyone else on HN that you think another HN user is unworthy of our attention, you should rethink posting the comment at all
Thank you for putting my feelings into words. I wish I could have just silently down-voted what I found so offensive instead of flaming out and coming across as being uncivil, but then again, that is a privilege not yet afforded to me on HN.
Clearly, a silent down-vote conveys much more than a thoughtless reply here.
What I do find confounding is the pile-up on my comments, instead of any voice raised (or down-votes) to the comment that started it all!
Is the messenger's tone more important than the message to folks on HN?
The "message" in this case is a totally pointless and off-topic digression about the liturgical significance of yoga.
The meta-message we are engaged in is "how shall I conduct myself on HN to best support the norms of the community".
Because one hopes you'll be contributing to discussions far more relevant and important than yoga, it's worth taking the time to explain how to better calibrate your tone.
However, I am totally confounded by (what appears to me as) the groupthink downvoting going on even now!
(that too on my comments that have nothing to do with this thread!!)
So how do you (or pg) make sure that silent downvoting is applied justifiably and not just a vindictive or punitive action resulting from superficial disagreement? Or is this a non-issue on HN?
And more importantly, are you aware/concerned that such actions (of maybe a few) may make newcomers (like me) see HN as unfriendly at best and nearly tyrannical at worst.
(Needless to say, I should have been civil to begin with, but now this reply is on wholly another point.)