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Comment by andy_ppp | Hacker News Reader

I vouched for this, it seems extremely ironic to downvote someone saying people are easily offended round here. I don't think he was trolling or trying to rile anyone up and it should be possible to discuss such things without burying people.

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Calling people easily offended and saying they’re strangling discourse is not an effective way of starting a conversation. I’m very curious what your threshold for baiting is given there’s absolutely no substance to the GP’s post.

Taking offense is a tactic to overpower the opponent with ostensible moral superiority while offering nothing to confront them but to silence them.

This is of course, assuming good intent and respectful (but contrarian) viewpoints.

Agreed. HN should be one of those few online vestiges that is above this kind of anti-intellectual, often disingenuous, tactic.

Offending can be a tactic too.

When "taking offense" is artificial outrage, I would agree. "I am shocked, shocked that there is gambling here!"

Your parent wasn’t downvoted. The account is banned so their comments are dead by default.

On another topic, interesting references in your bio - I will check them out.

What indicates that the account is banned?

That their comments are marked [dead], not [flagged][dead].

That's like your spouse telling you "you never do things right in this house". How does that work to a constructive discussion?

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