I'm not entirely sure why I'm getting downvotes for this Because you didn't kowtow sufficiently for some people. One might think that an unambiguous start lik

I'm not entirely sure why I'm getting downvotes for this Because you didn't kowtow sufficiently for some people. One might think that an unambiguous start like "While I don't support harassment in any way" would be enough to defuse the emotional downvoters, but apparently not. This is why I generally don't upvote gender or sexuality-related stories on HN, even if I agree with the author or think the premise is important: time and again contrary (politically incorrect or insufficiently supportive) opinions are punished and rational discourse goes out the window. The Brendan Eich kerfluffle is an excellent example. The fact that you had to even start your post with a disclaimer saying that you disapprove of behavior that a typical person would disapprove of anyway should be an indicator of how irrational HN can be at times. It should have gone without saying, yet here it wasn't even good enough.