Not much to this post for being on the front page, I guess I'll follow up with grow some thick skin. It's stupid not to.
Mean comments are a waste of space; they take up the space on the page where actually valuable content should be.
I've always hated the "grow a thicker skin" comment, regardless -- it shifts the blame onto the victim, and is simply impossible for some people and some situations -- but the problem here is that one person gets hurt (more or less, depending on thickness of skin), and lots & lots of readers get crap instead of brain food.
I reckon this is 'mean and a waste of space' then?
I don't think I've ever seen a mean post in the context of an HN discussion that wouldn't have been improved by removing the meanness, or simply deleting it.