[matte_black]

You need to use the right commenting style for the right situations.

This particular style of comment is best used when you want to emphasize that what a person just said is only one perspective and that there exists an equally valid opposing perspective. It works even better if the original post was written with a tone of superiority, though it’s not required. It wouldn’t be surprising to find it commonly used on HN.

[willbw]

You could also just write a regular comment arguing that point. Your approach risks coming across as condescending, and depends upon the reader having the patience to read essentially the exact same comment twice, keeping an eye out for whatever clever substitutions were made.

edit: that being said, I'm more than happy to move on. To each their own

[blunte]

It is quite possible that one may judge a statement as being superior when in fact it was not written as such. In that case, the reader could perhaps have some other emotion (inferiority?) coloring their perception.

Who is to say how the echo style of reply is generally seen, but I find it snarky. It seems less like saying, "I have a quite alternate point of view" and more like saying, "the originally presented view is backwards - here let me show you".

But this is all meta, and HN isn't a forum for us to be debating communication skills. Doing so is more futile amongst a group often known for lacking in communication skills in inverse proportion to their intellectual skills.

[mercutio2]

Complete tangent:

Most studies I’m familiar with find that intellectual skills and communications skills are very correlated (highly g-loaded) in the general population.

Your phrasing using “lacking” and “inverse proportion” could actually be interpreted as agreeing with that in a circuitous fashion, but the rest of the tone makes me think your “lacking” was an editing mistake, you meant the two skills are inversely correlated (apologies if I misunderstood your intent).

But you may be right that HN appeals to the outliers whose communication skills/maturity/desire for internet points don’t match the general population.

[BeetleB]

>But this is all meta, and HN isn't a forum for us to be debating communication skills.

It's as important as any in society, as well as the workplace. You're generally not going to get very far with technical brilliance alone.

>Doing so is more futile amongst a group often known for lacking in communication skills in inverse proportion to their intellectual skills.

Given the number of submissions on the topic in the last month or two, I think the HN crowd would disagree with you.