[wswope]

It’s not about bigco at all in my eyes.

At the end of the day, if you want intellectual curiosity and openness, bad-faith dishonesty needs to be weeded out; thought-provoking and honest conversation should be promoted, regardless of where the contributor is employed.

The problem isn’t working for Microsoft. The problem is dishonesty.

You’re treating the root comment with kid gloves because it’s from a Microsoft employee. Please don’t do that.

[dang]

Internet commenters massively over-attribute "bad-faith dishonesty" to others while denying it in themselves. There's enough bad faith to go around in all of us.

It's obvious that the dominant variable in the GP was that he was replying from within $BigCo. Your comment starts out by denying that and ends by confirming it.

I'm not asking for special treatment for anyone, but the opposite: I don't anyone on HN to be the target of a mob. That's the entire point.

[wswope]

Internet or not, I post under my real name on here, and I fully stand by my words. Anything I say on here, I’m 100% willing to say to someone’s face. We can link up for coffee or a beer next time I’m in CA if you’d like, and I’ll prove it.

The root comment is an aggressive affront to the audience’s collective intelligence. You’re in full “rules for thee; not for me” territory, and undermining your own site guidelines if you wanna let the root comment stand unchecked but go after the rightful callouts, in my book.