Most Rust contributors are not Mozilla employees. Even in the core team, 3 of 9 members weren't (as of 2017, may be different today),

It is 3 of 9 today as well. (In 2017 it was higher!)

So if I give you a dollar you'll stop commenting?

If you were paying me to comment and you wanted me to stop commenting, yes definitely.

I could go my own way and comment for free (as I already do) and then I would be able to do whatever I wanted.

But as long as I am funded by you, yes I should do what you ask of me.

Wouldn't you have a choice between continuing to get paid or continuing to comment? And what if I already knew your decision would be to stop getting paid and quit HN but I still needed you to continue being on HN because your presence here was valuable to me? Would that not mean that I'm paying you, but I can't force you to do anything without harming myself much more than you?

Haven't you heard? Nuance isn't a thing anymore. All decisions are binary. Get with the times.