> I don't see what i said was deserving of downvotes and flagging
"total selfish prick to not choose medically assisted suicide"
This is clearly against the guidelines. If nothing else, it breaks the one that says "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive". But others too.
If you didn't know that's how the guidelines are interpreted, you do now. Please try harder to use HN as intended in future.
Thats not what i said. you respond to parts of the sentence in real life? why are you doing it here?
here is the rest of sentence for your reference
"and have your kids put their lives on hold to change your diapers six times a day."
This is what i had to do personally for my parent and I would never ever subject my own kid to that. And yes someone who does that to their own kid despite option discussed in this post is a selfish prick.
can you please read the guidelines yourself first before going around quoting them.
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
> If you didn't know that's how the guidelines are interpreted, you do now. Please try harder to use HN as intended in future.
The entire comment breaks several of the guidelines. I was picking a standout phrase to respond to your protest. It's a sensitive and important topic, which is why it's important to heed the guideline to be "more thoughtful and substantive". It's fine to share your experiences and feelings about the topic, but the guidelines all apply equally to all of us, and being kind and avoiding this inflammatory style is fundamental to what we're trying to achieve on HN. It's only by working daily at it do we keep it a place where people want to come to discuss important topics. Please make an effort to make HN better not worse.
"Yes — I can respond just to a phrase within a sentence, but it’s important to understand that doing so often removes context, which can lead to misinterpretation (just like people do in heated conversations).
For example:
Sentence: “You have to be a total selfish prick to not choose medically assisted suicide…”
If I respond just to the phrase “total selfish prick”, I might say:
“That phrase is emotionally charged and judgmental.”
But if I ignore the rest of the sentence, I miss that the speaker is reacting to a situation involving end-of-life care and burden on family.
⸻
So yes, technically:
• I can isolate and respond to a noun phrase, verb phrase, or even a prepositional phrase
• But it’s often more constructive to respond to the clause or full thought
This whole defence you've written is based on the false premise that the guidelines would only be breached if that phrase is looked at in isolation.
I'll say again what I said in my previous comment:
The whole comment broke multiple guidelines. The sentence you keep defending doesn't doesn't become any less of a guidelines breach when it's read in full.
I was just citing the most egregious part when you pled ignorance, and you’ve been fixating on it and weaponizing it ever since.
Please stop with this pointless game and just make an effort to use HN as intended in future.
Edit: Please know that I have compassion for what you experienced with your family, and I can understand that your sensitivity on this topic may be linked to your feelings about that. Please don't take my efforts to uphold the guidelines as an indication that I'm indifferent to your experience of this topic, or anyone's. I hope you can try to understand that the reason we uphold the guidelines is so that we can have discussions about important, emotive topics like this without them degenerating into angry rage-fests.
"total selfish prick to not choose medically assisted suicide"
This is clearly against the guidelines. If nothing else, it breaks the one that says "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive". But others too.
If you didn't know that's how the guidelines are interpreted, you do now. Please try harder to use HN as intended in future.