Please don't paint both parties to an argument with the same brush. I was on my best behavior for this argument and did not engage in a "tit-for-tat". I do not appreciate being officially reprimanded and having my comments flagged when I did nothing wrong.

I'm not expecting a response (heck, I'm expecting this comment to be flagged for arguing with a moderator), I'm just hoping you'll pause for a moment and realize that heavy-handed moderation is counterproductive; if I'm punished for being on my best behavior, what incentive is there for me to care about my behavior at all?

Whenever we get one of these snippy exchanges going far to the right on the page, circulating uselessly and boring everybody else, both parties are to blame for keeping it going.

Any time you find yourself writing things like "This is the second time you're calling me irrational, and it's not acceptable," you've passed the kind of discussion we want on HN. Even if it's true that the other person was behaving as badly or worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

The point of that comment was to signal that the discussion was over. I agree that the discussion had passed a line; that's precisely why I wrote the comment, and why I ignored the reply. I was self-moderating. It seems both ironic and counter-productive for a moderator to yell at me for ending the discussion, with the explanation that the discussion should be ended.

But really, it's not the fact that this comment was flagged that bothers me (though being accused of "tit-for-tat" behavior still rankles). What really gets me is my previous comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18604446) is flagged as well, for no reason I can see.

As before, I'm not actually expecting a reply. I know you want this whole discussion to be over, and I'm fine with that. I just want you to spend a few seconds thinking about what I'm saying here.

Ok, I've unflagged that comment.