Some version of "these comments are a donation to the community and the idea of taking your ball and going home is anathema to what we are trying to build here"

which is a long way of saying "we think our shit don't stink"

I've recently (over two months) deleted my Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook accounts and was not impressed by what I found when I went to delete my HN account.

I understand that there are other options (reset password to random gibberish, run a script to delete my comments) and none of that would provide the catharsis I aimed for so I'm still here, for now, I guess.

Edit: looking at the other replies next to mine, I think "we think our shit don't stink" was an accurate description of what's going on here.