Can you blame someone for not having any hateful comments on their website? Even if 98% were positive, that 2% could annoy the hell out of you.

How is it hypocritical to hold the view that some places are intended to be open forums for comments from anyone, and others are not?

Also, by not hosting my own comments, all public commentary on my writing is thus out of my control. I don't get to block comments I don't like here, or on Mastodon, or Twitter/X, or Bluesky. I think that's actually for the better.

I see your take, but I disagree.

DF is a blog and was conceived that way. HN is a discussion site. The two forms (blogging and internet discussions) are different. They serve different purposes and require different management styles.

The discussions here do seem to be tamped down in some ways, and as a user, that takes something away from the experience.

Relatedly: in general, I think "hypocritical" is not a big gotcha that ends discussions. Different things serve different purposes.