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Being rude to people spreading dangerous misinformation is mandatory on the internet, lima.

Do you kindly and charitably respond to antivaxxers and drug dealers?

HN has very specific rules for this: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

You don't respond to them at all, flag the comment, and/or email the moderators.

Being snarky does not contribute to the discussion and gets your comments flagged.

So you (high karma user) are recommending that I (low karma user) simply flag (which I can't do) and not respond (leaving no trace) to misinformation?

I should respond to bad info by continuing to lurk. Very smart!

Yes, if you're unable to be polite about it, just don't comment and/or email the moderators. Your comment would have been informative and well-received without the snark.

You were right to call out the other person for trivializing the risks of tick bites, just assume good faith and be kind.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com