But this is a discussion forum. There's plenty of places to go to on the internet to express yourself if you want tightly layered banter, such as reddit (which is not meant to denigrate reddit, it's comments just service a slightly different purpose in many cases). Clear communication of a point that furthers that discussion is sort of the point of HN comments, and what makes them a little different (hopefully).

If I had been able to parse your comment enough to be sure it was just an overly verbose joke at his expense along with a disparagement of anyone that's happened to partner with him, I would have just downvoted you and been done with it, as the comment's not really in good taste, but more importantly it doesn't really contribute anything. That's not really meant to be an insult, we all go off-topic at times. You just happened to do it in a way that kept me from even determining whether you really were contributing anything.

Discussion can certainly proceed without knowing every last bit of nuance of my commentary because my key point is clear: the guy's off the rails and his business partners apparently tolerated this as long as he was making them money.

Naturally, you're entitled to your opinion of it, which differs from mine. Hence, we agree to disagree.

> Discussion can certainly proceed without knowing every last bit of nuance of my commentary because my key point is clear

No, your key point wasn't clear, at least not to me. It was so unclear, except for what I assumed based on some general feel and what you were replying to, that I actually stopped and asked you what you were trying to say.

> Hence, we agree to disagree.

Fair enough.