which you interpreted as combative on the basis that it implies you are 'mad' about something. I wouldn't interpret their phrasing as such.
In this case, a poster who sees your own post as hostile ("berating people"), you describe it as "fake outrage"', which seems to imply their perception is a dishonest one. Their are other impolite and combative elements there too, e.g. "you’re probably not a dumb person", "This is not hard to understand".
The point is, this response is not de-escalating, but the opposite.
The same could be said of this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50364936
which you interpreted as combative on the basis that it implies you are 'mad' about something. I wouldn't interpret their phrasing as such.
In this case, a poster who sees your own post as hostile ("berating people"), you describe it as "fake outrage"', which seems to imply their perception is a dishonest one. Their are other impolite and combative elements there too, e.g. "you’re probably not a dumb person", "This is not hard to understand".
The point is, this response is not de-escalating, but the opposite.