The currency of actual cash money, which is not provided in our information-sharing environment here on Hacker News, would free up time for me to customize each comment I post more thoroughly. Under current conditions on Hacker News, I will continue to post for free, and I hope some of my comments are worth more than I bill for them.
Thank you for letting me know your opinion.
Most of the time one's hopes are not as valuable outside that person's head as they are inside.
If you're not interested in engaging the community except in terms of price, why participate?
I was interested in sharing information, did, was evidently appreciated for sharing the information, but also still criticized for how I did so. Fine. But I will go on sharing information here in a manner that fits my work schedule and other personal responsibilities. If all I dislike about somebody's comment is the MANNER in which it was written, when the content is accurate and helpful, my own style is not to complain about that.
There's nothing in this that indicates it is at all customized for the article it is attached to. Especially given that you and the author seem to have some things in common (connection to small-town Minnesota & love of mathematics) it seems like you could have done a lot better than just re-posting virtually the same comment for the 11th time.
You have to go about half way down the page to find a comment that actually engages with the article. The way the HN system works out in practice the "winning" top level comment determines the entire structure of the ensuing discussion. I think that means that top level commentators have a particular responsibility to comment well.