[jsmthrowaway]

Imagine if someone shared an opinion in support of feminism, and you, having read something you disagree with, proceeded to read their entire comment history and then comment upon it. That's a very, very common tactic against the very people you're supporting, so I'd caution against venturing down this path. Everybody loses.

If you disagree, form some substance. If you want to attack the messenger, hold your tongue. You're not helping regardless of which side you stand on and no matter how obviously that account is perceived by you to be a troll.

[graeme]

Single issue commenters are rather rare on hacker news. When that single issue is non technical, they're far outside the norm. It's relevant for me to know if a commenter here is not a regular user.

I don't think this is a feminist/anti-feminist issue in this case. I'd want to know either way.

[tptacek]

I have no idea what you're trying to tell me here. The person we're talking about is a troll. That's useful information, regardless of whether it bothers you.

[jsmthrowaway]

I'm just saying it's a common silencing tactic in the inverse and you're encouraging its efficacy.

[tptacek]

This is what you're sticking up for:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7406870

You're comfortable with that?

[jsmthrowaway]

Yeah, because saying "be careful disagreeing in that manner because people use that tactic against feminists all the time" is totally sticking up for the comment in question. I'm on board with that logic, 100%. All the way. Because it totally makes sense.

Normally I'd ignore it but you're trying to be an ally. Except, you're using one of the top tricks in the book that is used against your very allies to silence them, in order to silence a troll account that you disagree with. Pot, kettle, and so forth.

[tptacek]

I am not trying to be an ally. These HN threads are beyond rescuing. My problem is that HN's immune system doesn't appear to recognize commenters like the one above for what they are. It's the immune system that needs to improve, not the logic on these gangrenous threads.

[kefka]

You make a better, albeit inadvertent, point. We'd be better off without usernames posted.

Why should we care if you think a user is a troll? Or say they are.. If they have content to add, what makes them so bad?

[rds2000]

The thing that surprises me is you're a CEO of security company - you don't even go into the subject of my thread. This doesn't befit you.

It's true, in USA, we respond to things emotionally, even the best of us sometimes.

Imagine, if you as a CEO of a security company acts like this, imagine what a marketer with no talent or skill does when she doesn't get what she wants? She can't lean on ability... nor reason, She leans on the, you've guessed it, the crowd.

I bet you, 9/10 times, you have better things to do than pick a fight or be on twitter because you have skills. Even if people hate you, you still can be a productive member of society. Other people only have a self-esteem boost of retweets to rely on, and they misinterpret that as career value.