[tptacek]

Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email [e-mail] and we'll look at the data.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[dns_snek]

It's not an insinuation, or mistaken - it's stated on their HN profile.

You should verify claims before mistakenly downvoting and linking to site's guidelines.

[DiggyJohnson]

It's still an insinuation even if its true. You should consider rephrasing your comment and not starting it with "did you forget to say...". Presumably they did not forget to mention this.

[HeatrayEnjoyer]

If we can't point something out even if it's true then the rules are bad and we have an obligation to disregard them.

[DiggyJohnson]

No, you have the wrong mindset. You could have asked the same question without the hostility.

[HeatrayEnjoyer]

My mindset is correct. I have not engaged in act of hostility.

Stop hallucinating like a bad LLM.

[DiggyJohnson]

Unpleasant and insulting for no reason then. I'm just trying to advocate for respectful and professional discourse. Save the insults for strangers in real life, not Hacker News.

[tptacek]

The point of the guideline is that accusing people of commenting in bad faith --- another guideline here --- makes for bad, boring conversation. What's worse, the comment you responded to made a bad argument that I think is easy to knock down on its merits, and by writing like this you weakened those rebuttals. Don't write like this here.

[dns_snek]

I'm sorry you feel like I don't live up to your standards, I believe that transparency about affiliations and conflicts of interest is paramount to healthy and productive discussion. Disclosing these things when criticizing competitors is really basic etiquette.

And look, it was just a simple nudge for them to disclose their affiliations more plainly in the future, while also providing relevant (and apparently appreciated) context to other readers. It was a footnote, not an argument.

[tptacek]

Yes. Stop providing those nudges. They're not OK.