I'm definitely not arguing that the GP comment was an unfair criticism. I have zero issue with the case the user's making. The issue I'm worried about, because it's my job, is what kind of site Hacker News is supposed to be. You can't judge this by looking at posts in isolation, because no single post affects the kind of site HN is. But patterns of posts affect it very strongly.

HN is either a site for intellectual curiosity or a site for political battle. It can't be both, for the same reason that you can't have a tank battle in a flower garden or a museum.