I was just suggesting that people might take the parent poster more seriously if he didn't go straight from 0 to 100 on the pain-meter. If it was an attempt at

I was just suggesting that people might take the parent poster more seriously if he didn't go straight from 0 to 100 on the pain-meter. If it was an attempt at humor, it certainly seems like people here didn't enjoy it much. In general hyperbole for emphasis is fine, but blowing the badness of something out of proportion is a common way that people polarize and shut down otherwise healthy discussions, often unintentionally. HN is a forum to foster discussion, so we should try to avoid doing things that shut it down.