I would have downvoted your comment; while it's obviously well-intentioned and coming from a good place, it's also just off-topic noise. Sorry :-(
I've written an entire Stack Overflow rant on "a basic but valid question getting downvoted"[1] and this kind of stuff is one of the main reasons I no longer contribute there, so I do sympathize, but HN is not Stack Overflow; downvotes "mean" less here in the first place, and it doesn't seem to be a structural problem. I've asked plenty of basic questions over the years, and I've rarely been downvoted for it, and some of the replies have been very detailed and excellent.
At the end of the day it's impossible to get all thousands of people that can vote on HN to act reasonably, so sometimes unfair things happen. It is what it is.
That currently stands at -3. And heaven forbid someone decry THAT. I mean, my comment two above this one stands at a negative. That's shitty behavior. So yes, I will call out those who bring down this site by attacking other users.