I'm curious what kind of tools do you have for moderating HN?
Like do you have a tool that highlights threads that are racking up tons of posts/downvotes/etc. or something like that? Or is 80% of your day spent reading every thread posted?
I'll grant that focusing on it was not in the spirit of the HN guidelines. That's on me. However, GP's comment would have been just as unacceptable if it was distinguishing based on race, or gender, or LGBT status. I'm surprised and a bit disappointed that there's no explicit guidelines against derogatory uses of that kind of language.
Does "derogatory speech" count as "flamebait"?
> Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents.
Personally, I would say yes, derogatory speech is flamebait, because there will of course be those that criticise it and those that defend it as plain speaking - a classic flame war. It's also (certainly in this case) unrelated, tangential and clearly controversial.
There's also this bit:
> Be kind. ... Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
The clause about "including at the rest of the community" suggests that it also applies to those not in the community.
"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead."
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html