[yesenadam]

The point of the guideline is, I think, that saying "Did you even read the article?" adds nothing of value, just spite and bad feelings to HN, and on top of that, wastes our time. The guideline isn't about reading the article or not, but being a jerk or not.

[NickRandom]

Perhaps. But I don't think I've ever seen just a "Did you read the article?" on it's own eg as a single - "Did you read the article?" rather than a "Did you read the article? Because it clearly said/stated/made the point that .....".

Have you ever seen a "Did you RTFA?" just as a single comment with nothing else?

Honest question because I've never seen that but may have missed some.

[yesenadam]

Yes, I've seen something like that many times, on its own.

Besides that, I don't understand your first paragraph, what you're trying to say, why you mention the phrase on its own. I had a similar feeling reading your initial comment - no idea why you would say that. I'm missing something, not sure what. "Since a lot of people don't read the article, we don't need the rule against saying 'Did you read the article?'" makes no sense to me as a piece of reasoning. The conclusion of the argument seems to have nothing to do with the premise(s). Whether 0%, 50% or 100% of people read the article would make no difference to the value of that rule, seems to me.

[Semiapies]

Then add "Clearly didn't read the article" as a reason to flag posts.