I was indeed commenting not only to what Raganwald said explicitly but also on what I took to be the full meaning. This turned out to be worthwhile b/c many oth

I was indeed commenting not only to what Raganwald said explicitly but also on what I took to be the full meaning. This turned out to be worthwhile b/c many other commenters believed the position I first thought Raganwald held -- I knew it wasn't a rare straw man no one believes. I think it's pretty harmless to guess what people mean and reply to issues they didn't directly raise as long as you try to keep things pretty impersonal and focus on issues that are worth discussing in their own right. I don't think it's avoidable to make some guesses about what other people mean b/c writing is never 100% clear (plus lots of people are in the habit of being unclear so if you don't add substantial interpretation for them they blame you for being difficult). I don't particularly object to Raganwald misunderstanding me at first. We got on the sort of the same page in only a couple comments. Honestly I consider that fast/good. It's the 3 people who assumed or wanted me to be joking b/c they disagreed with me that I have a problem with... The guy posting intentional ad hominems against me. The guy posting that he's lowering his opinion of HN b/c I got upvoted. All the people who take or make stuff personal and don't focus on the issues and post nasty stuff without argument and don't correct their misunderstandings even after clarifications...