This is the one I was referring to. I’ll admit that the first one you linked was not productive, but I’m reasonably sure you’re taking a less charitable interpretation of this one in light of that. As far as what makes “everything” worse, the prevalence of attitudes like those I was challenging are the reason I almost died without treatment. But if they’re politely stated, no harm no foul?
> But if they’re politely stated, no harm no foul?
That's not at all how we moderate HN. But IIRC (it's been a few hours since I've read the thread) your comments put an extreme personal skew on the comments you were taking offense at and then breaking the rules in reply to.
It's natural and understandable that this happens sometimes on topics where you feel strongly (I don't mean you personally, but any of us). However, natural and understandable does not equal ok. On the contrary: we all need to catch ourselves when we're getting carried away like that, and either edit our posts to be within the site guidelines, or just walk away. I find it helpful, in such cases, to remember that the internet is to a first approximation wrong about everything, and there's nothing that any of us can do about it.
> But IIRC (it's been a few hours since I've read the thread) your comments put an extreme personal skew on the comments you were taking offense at
I sincerely do not think it is an “extreme personal skew” to reject any perspective which would either casually or gladly leave me dead, nor that there’s any reasonable assessment which would arrive at that conclusion.
”I reject perspectives which render me dead” is a very middle of the road personal skew. It’s a personal skew which would be extreme in absence. It’s the kind of personal skew which alarms people that something is wrong.
If you think it’s “extreme”, because the kind of conversation you want to encourage here is “light”, then you ought to know that the kinds of “light” comments I routinely get here—about medication which means the difference between crippling anxiety that made life not worth living, and about a diagnosis which made changing that accessible to me—those comments don’t just vanish because they get moderated. They wouldn’t just vanish if I didn’t have “show dead” in my settings. I seldom see the moderation until after people have laughingly dismissed anything about my experience, they vanish after my reality has been not just questioned but lightheadedly treated as a butt of a joke.
It isn’t just about “the internet” being “wrong”. Discussions that happen anywhere can lead to people making irreversible decisions. “The internet” isn’t some abstract thing, it’s real human beings interacting as quickly as requests are processed.
My personal experience isn’t unusual. Other people will encounter comments like I’ve received and some of them will be discouraged. Some of the consequences of that will be dead humans who wanted to be alive. Pushing back against that isn’t just personal to me. It’s my way of hoping that other people who experience what I have stay alive.
If that’s “breaking the rules”, fucking ban me because I want no part of it.
This is the one I was referring to. I’ll admit that the first one you linked was not productive, but I’m reasonably sure you’re taking a less charitable interpretation of this one in light of that. As far as what makes “everything” worse, the prevalence of attitudes like those I was challenging are the reason I almost died without treatment. But if they’re politely stated, no harm no foul?