I started making comments like this after the tenth time seeing a green account make a joke, get downvoted to hell and reply "WTF! Why is Hacker News so mean to noobs!" (Peter was green an hour ago)
I certainly understand where you're coming from and what you're probably thinking of (Eternal September is the name I know it by)--but I did try to make my comment both relevant and funny. I personally think I did okay there, but I'm fine with disagreement on that part.
I don't disagree. I shoulda waited to see if you were downvoted first before commenting. Meanwhile, I thought my comment was nice. I used to get a lot of support for a slightly less polite version of the same message. But, apparently today a lot of people read it as aggressive, snarky and smug :P
That's the problem when forums have a lot of sarcasm. It becomes even more difficult for anyone to judge your intentions. When people in "witty" forums say mean/dumb things they get surprised by how many readers think they are serious. And, some of them respond with mean/dumb things in seriousness. And, in not-seriousness... Usually there's an indistinguishable mix. And, even when you say something constructive, a lot of people will assume a negative intention and get upset that you are so disparaging.
So, yeah. Every few months I get in the mood to welcome a witty noob. Doesn't always go well :P