>How can it be that in HN a comment like this, which is all about trivialities and the personal sensitivities of the commentator, and which contributes nothing relevant to the matter at hand, receives the most upvotes? Is this comment somehow pinned to the top instead?

I feel like purposely emphasizing C89 in your project name is meant to highlight some sort of greybeard or serious hacker aspect to it. Presumably the poster was thinking along the lines of "if you're trying to show how proficient you are with a sharp knife, here's a list of all the ways you cut yourself with it."