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Did he edit his comment? Questioning something, however misguided, is not an ad hominem.

• untilHellbanned 10y ago
  No I didn't edit my comment. It's still exactly as I first wrote it.
• dang 10y ago
  A genuine question would have been phrased neutrally, but that one was dripping with insinuation ("what kind of talent", "this guy", "seems like cronyism"). Snark posing as a question is toxic. Considering how easy it is to avoid when one wants to, I think it's reasonable to hold HN users to a higher standard on this.
  • return0 10y ago
    The hand at matter is whether it was a personal attack or not, which it wasn't. It's OK to question someone's credentials; nobody is beyond scrutiny. It's not OK to attack his person in order to do so. (E.g. "how can this liberal/short/japanese/cat-loving guy have earned this position").