I suppose I am assuming that the purpose of a discussion on HN is truth-seeking. If we are also enforcing social norms, then it makes sense to attack the status

I suppose I am assuming that the purpose of a discussion on HN is truth-seeking. If we are also enforcing social norms, then it makes sense to attack the status of those who propose offensive things. Enforcing social norms must come at the expense of truth-seeking though, and I think truth-seeking is more important. Anyone can easily think of examples from history where offensive opinions turned out to be correct, and there are sure to be views today which are regarded as offensive and are also correct. Paul Graham wrote about this in What You Can't Say: http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html Edit: We have drifted from the original topic somewhat. The snarkiness I objected to wasn't calling out his opponent as offensive. It was just snarkiness.