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(I know I'm going to get down ranked just because you disagree with me)

Sorry go to off topic, but what makes you think that? Comments at HN are generally only downvoted for being inappropriate, immature, or extremely insubstantial. Say something interesting and you'll probably get upvoted even by people who disagree with you.

Back on topic, I agree, the article dramatizes things quite a bit. Maybe the new ToS were first noticed/discussed on Twitter, but I don't think that mean Twitter "won" something against Facebook. Also, pet peeve: overuse of the word 'viral'. If 'went viral' just means 'got Dugg' then it's not a very meaningful term.

[TomOfTTB]

As someone who I'd like to think has proven to be of some worth to the community I can tell you first hand that people downvote based on disagreement all the time. In my experience it's just a few jerks (I've never been significantly down voted on a quality comment) but it does happen.

I think there was even an "Ask HN" topic on this a while back with people defending the fact that they downvote because the disagree (Sorry, not enough time to search for it right now)

Oh, and I agree completely about the article.