[tzs]

I don't see that "why?" is curt. It is succinct.

Perhaps in this particular case the questioner WAS trying to be rude, but that's not relevant to my reply to hvs. Note hvs said he could not understand why this question is asked on HN. He was talking about people in general who ask "why", not this particular questioner.

I'm astonished that anyone would be surprised that on HN, of all places, that people would be curious about why someone is doing something. One of the defining characters of hackers is curiosity.