Not only does it (descriptively by usage, whatever pedants might prefer) mean exactly what it was used upthread to mean, that usage is structurally distinct from an impossible to confuse with the usage pedants prefer (and helps the pedant-preferred version make sense.)

That's the TL;DR version, the full rant is available at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13708712

OK if that's as much sense as an anti-pedant can make, I'm gonna side with the pedants.

It's even on the linked wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question#Modern_us...

All that post says is that it is common to use it incorrectly, which it is, but we should not encourage bad habits.

> All that post says is that it is common to use it incorrectly

I'm not sure if “that post” refers to the grandparent or the one linked from it, but in either case you are incorrect. There are several other things addressed beyond frequency of usage.