From the HN Guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) -

> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

Indeed.

Is "weird" an insult? Or is there a greater context I'm unaware of?

It's not. I've noticed this misunderstanding before and it's very frustrating. Not every word with a negative connotation is an insult.

It is. The comment provides it's own context to show it. It is not internally consistent any other way. See my other response. I likewise am frustrated by things, like lobbing such casual insults and then playing dumb/innocent when called on it.

"what's wrong with weird?" Nothing is, and they know that's a misdirected disingenuous question.

This is ascribing an incredibly negative attitude to me and frankly it is unnecessary. I don't deserve to be attacked just because I do not understand what you meant, especially because I took the time to ask you for clarification.

Clearly I feel like what you have to say could have merit and I would like to know what that merit is.

There is no other way to interpret this use of "weird hobby" than as ridicule. Otherwise what was the intended point of the comment?

For instance, the part "next time someone says you have a weird hobby", why does the reader supposedly care if someone does say that to them?, and why do they need to remember anything when that happens? What is this memory bolstering them against?

Is it meant to keep their heads from getting too big from the compliment?

In fact I consider weird a virtue, and when someone calls me weird, I usually say "thank you" whether they meant it as a compliment or not, but in fact most people do not intend that charge as a compliment, and this comment in parficular can be trivially unpacked and can not be interpreted as either a compliment or even neutral, without ignoring the actual words and context. It doesn't hold together as a rational string of words any other way than as ridicule.

And I decline to believe that you don't know that, which makes this comment disingenuous.

You seem very emotional about all this, I must apologise - I simply don't see this. I read the comment as specifying that this is a very specific and unusual hobby, so when people think this about your hobbies you have something to relate to. It is not negative or positive, it is just providing context.

Just arguing point and responding to same.

I read weird as “curious” “odd” or “interesting”. Not inherently bad or “weird” like a 3rd grader would say it.

I read it as "quirky".

you seem pretty worked up about correcting people who don't need corrected yourself