I mean no disrespect and don't wish to rag on you unfairly, especially as your top-level post made a valid point and had a helpful link to prior discussion. You

I mean no disrespect and don't wish to rag on you unfairly, especially as your top-level post made a valid point and had a helpful link to prior discussion. You are obviously a long-term user and contributor, and often provide useful links to past discussion, which is very helpful. So, the downvotes: your original comment could have been interpreted as sarcastic, which might be why it was downvoted. Worth noting that overall it was positively received, who knows, maybe someone just slipped on their iPhone? Your other comments have two problems. Your tone is somewhat passive-aggressive, for example: "triumph of evil [that is, comment quality may be getting worse]", "clearly concern for the community is irrelevant", "community is gone, and HN is something else", "respect, quality discussion and value that's being boiled out" Coupled this with the unfortunate fact that I (and presumably other people) also recognise your username for often complaining that HN is getting worse. That is probably why your meta posts are getting downvoted: you have made your point before, and unless you have something new to say, that makes it noise and the community norms are to downvote noise.