[was_hellbanned]

That's like saying intolerance of intolerance is intolerant.

In fact, I'd like to have simply said, "stop being an asshole", but that sort of direct, rude comment gets downvoted here on HN. Meanwhile, an extremely rude, condescending, dismissive, but roundabout comment stays neutral or is even upvoted.

[gcr]

That's true.

I think it could be interesting if people on HN actively tried to flip their negative comments into a point of discussion.

For example, if we instead said "You sound like you have stories to tell, do you have any experience with bad therapists? What could they have done better?" then the conversation could continue down a more interesting path.

[was_hellbanned]

That's a really good point, and something I'll have to think about in the future. I suppose an awful lot of online "discussions" are really sequential attempts at having the last word.