While I understand that everyone has their own idea of what should and should not be on Hacker News, must everything be regulated down to the gnat's whiskers?

I know everyone's afraid of the conversations deteriorating to the point that they no longer want to come here, but you can go the other direction with that too. You can regulate it so much that no one wants to come post or read.

I think there's a reasonable balance between the two (where that balance lies is something that many will surely disagree about also -- :-D ).

And, for the record, I could have lived without the Pee Wee Herman story also.