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>This sounds like justification for having no rules. I don't know if that's a good idea.

Does it seem like some general anarchy has erruped on HN, and literary all kinds of posts have been voted on top?

I don't think so: it's just some rule-bending when HN voters feel like it.

I haven't suggested that general anarchy has erupted. I've suggested that "breaking the rules is part of being human" is a crappy justification for breaking rules.

Perhaps you need a better justification on a break-by-break basis, but as a general philosophical/stance-on-life justification, it holds up.

I mean, if we were to really discuss this on a substancial level you'd also have to justify what is so great about following rules in the first place. After all, people have been following stupid rules (including laws) for ages.

But if I were to do that, I'd have to go deeper. I'd have to start justifying everything that I do. And I mean everything. I'd have to justify my justifications, and justify those meta-justifications. I'd have to justify the need to justify things at all. Soon, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed because it would take me all day (perhaps longer!) to justify doing so.

I'd certainly also have to justify having this conversation with you. I can't do that, so thanks anyway.

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