[tommiegannert]

> Freedom isn’t free bud - you pay for it with Karma

Well said, though for HN, I think this is more like "you're in someone's backyard attending a BBQ with their friends. There are things you can say and be invited next time, and some things you shouldn't."

There was an HN comment yesterday calling a company name almost-racist, because with the right intonation, there could be parallels to a word that can be interpreted in a racist way. I didn't even dare commenting that "those who seek to be offended, will find a way to be offended." I think the downvotes given to the comment said the same thing, but of course kills the topic. And we'll see the same thing repeated again, thought perhaps not by the same author.

[foogazi]

Agree- that’s not the type of comment I come to this BBQ for.

To me those downvotes are a nudge to stay on topic, but sometimes the conversation or learning get cutoff