His point stands... and actually contributes to the conversation

Well... I mean really I was not trying to say Gab was innocent. I really didn't know until others provided some helpful context. I was speaking more to the original topic of this HN submission.

I never know how to handle topic shifts in the conversation trees in Reddit, Hacker News, and others.

Do you speak only to the comment you're responding to? Do you speak as if that comment is in the context of the submission? Do you keep the context as on topic as possible? Do you indicate which one of the three you're doing when you start your comment off? I feel like this is an internet rule I have not sussed out on my own. And I can see its caused some trouble for others. Sorry.

I found interesting your comment and subsequent replies to your comment.