It wasn't a predictable flamewar. Maybe for you but it wasn't for me nor could you cite any observable evidence for my contribution in this.
The other commenter was trying to flame, now that others seemingly piled on by needlessly flagging. I was generous and didn't engage in anything but a nudge to what I was implying/saying.
Google's behavior might be 'obvious' to some but it's not obvious to everyone, hence why I posted what I did in a public forum where ~2 billion people have access to this website but don't have uniform understanding of all things Google, that Google's behavior was hypocritical. The commenter expected me to say one thing or another and that's where the disconnect is. Not me. If you can cite my error, I'll happily provide 1 BTC for you clearly proving my error. But you can't. I don't come here to blame/flame. I come to contribute what I find valuable to the community. Others didn't find it valuable, that's fine but I tried.
When dealing with trolls. There is nothing wrong with giving them a gentle nudge, which is what I did. I didn't engage past my initial comment and one additional.
Finally, when dealing with people. Don't prejudge, even if you are the judge, when dealing with the community. I've done nothing wrong and the only problem is the narrative in people's head and their expectations to ~'not rehash what others have said' as @blauditore and @saagarjha were implying.
What others may have said in the past doesn't inform my experience, I wasn't there. I'm speaking for myself and there is nothing wrong with what I said. And still isn't.
For @blauditore and @saagarjha, I'd say their comments were trying to flame. Don't project their bad behavior on me.
I'm certainly not suggesting that other commenters didn't also break the site guidelines, but what you posted was unsubstantive flamebait. It's easy to underestimate (by 10x or more) how much of this one is doing—commenters are often surprised to hear how their comments have landed with others. The solution to this is not to blame other people but rather to err on the side of posting thoughtfully and substantively.
Pointing out that the morals of Google diverging from their founding motto is absolutely substantive.
As for flamebait, to someone whom has an axe to grind, everything is flamebait. Which is something I have zero control over.
> rather to err on the side of posting thoughtfully and substantively.
I did. As for beauty, it's in the eyes of the beholder. Which why I'm standing my ground on what I said. I didn't entice someone. I didn't get into ad hominem. I simply only responded once that I'm pointing out something that is clear to me (hypocrisy of Google's morals).
I already stated how Google diverged from it's original motto. One commenter felt it was unoriginal. Well, I don't live on this website. Also, where are these unproductive expectations coming from? Pointing out that someone is 'unoriginal' isn't engaging anyone to discuss something.
Since speaking plainly isn't getting through.
Let me reason by comparison.
If I'm a 5th grader and the commenter is a professional 12th grader. How is the 5th grader wrong for posting it's opinion? That is clearly substantive and thoughtful, I literally quoted Google's code of ethics page to make my case. The 12th grader should've known better.
If something has been said 100s of times on HN, guess what happens? Typically, it educates the new readers whom haven't seen that information before. Or it gets downvoted into oblivion. Nothing wrong with that and it's self policing.
I believe this type of response, to me, was misplaced and unnecessary.
I'll rephrase your question. What is the reason for the deletion of your comment?
Simple. People were flaming. It was getting downvoted and flagged. If the community sends a clear statement (by acting in concert with one another), then I'd prefer not to get downvoted into oblivion. To me, it's not a hill I want to die on. And it was clear that others were misunderstanding. All I can do is communicate my perspective. If someone comes to the conversation with misguided expectations (even if it's a swarm of people), then I'll bow out. It's simple non-violent communication.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html