[vlmutolo]

There are plenty of instances where it's appropriate to use a y-axis that isn't "linear starting at zero." That's why I specified that I was only talking about ways to represent relative differences (i.e. relative to the magnitude of the measurements).

In this case, when we're measuring the latency of requests, without any other context, it's safe to say that relative differences are the important metric and the graph should start at zero.

So while it's true that this isn't universally the correct decision, and it's probably true that people regurgitate the "start at zero" criticism regardless of whether it's appropriate, it does apply to this case.