“Concern trolling” is when someone pretends to be concerned but isn’t actually, and really thinks the opposite.
I’ll wager the commenter was legitimately bothered by the statement (as I was). You may disagree with his opinion, but it’s not cool to question his motive.
On HN I think we expect better, which includes the courtesy to not question each other’s earnestness, and to challenge people’s positions and not their motivations.
Well I hate to tell you this but motives are an important piece of how the world works. People don’t think and say things in a vacuum. I am not generous with giving people the benefit of the doubt when their position is in alignment with white supremacists.
Most of HN submitted content is worth reading for technical merit alone, but it does not include with racist or sexist content. If anything, we treat racist and sexist content as something to fight.
That I raised attention to this issue does not justify a problematic label like "concern trolling".
We are better than this, and our content should reflect that.
I’ll wager the commenter was legitimately bothered by the statement (as I was). You may disagree with his opinion, but it’s not cool to question his motive.