[angersock]

Slurs are generally less effective once they've become mainstream.

Go spend some time on 4chan, and this will become clear--'-fag' is used as a suffix/term-of-art, and basically doesn't even register on the radar anymore as being said with any seriousness.

"Goddamn" and "Christ" were once quite serious business as well.

[smeyer]

Of course they're less effective once they've become mainstream. As you mentioned, many slurs gradually lose any hateful meaning, and I'm sure the term "faggotry" might be becoming a bit less offensive over time, but seeing as how it's still used by many people in a hurtful way, it's not unreasonable to expect some people to be upset in situations where it's less clear. If someone disliked a comment using the term on 4chan, I wouldn't assume they disliked it for the term, but this isn't 4chan.

[angersock]

this isn't 4chan.

Quite right--4chan has a better sense of humor than HN, more original content, and is much more abrasive. :)