First off, I think you'll enjoy the following: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507024 The research being do

First off, I think you'll enjoy the following: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507024 The research being done is fascinating. It roughly explains why some people go ballistic when something is said against something they unknowingly "love" even if it's just a device, technology, or company. Secondly, if you've studied linguistics at all or know multiple languages, you'll notice how human languages have significant variance in their dependency on context. For example, in a "high context" language like Vietnamese (one of the very highest), things are more often implied rather than expressed. In a "low context" like English (particularly American usage of English), things are more often expressed rather than implied. In English, the use of irony, satire, and sarcasm are unexpected "high context" usage of a generally "low context" language. Without being a native speaker, the intentionally subtle but surprising switch from low context to high context results in endless amounts of confusion and miscommunication. A great example would be the recent "Porn Star Brogrammer" post. If you didn't recognize it as satire, it would be highly offensive, but even if you did recognize it as satire, many would still consider it offensive. A lot of satire is still offensive even if you do understand the context shift and recognize it for what it is. Lastly, in English the term "argument" (outside of formal logic) implies disagreement, and often, harsh disagreement or even a fight. If you use the term "argument" in the sense of formal logic, it's best to qualify it to prevent misunderstanding. And yes, a lot of people post on HN for the sake of having a fight, rather than to have a pleasant and mutually beneficial exchange of ideas. The smart thing to do when you see heated exchanges or harsh replies, is to just stay out of it. You have better things to do than fight with people on the Internet. http://xkcd.com/386/ http://xkcd.com/386/ If you find someone reacting badly, ignore it. If it still bothers you, give it a few days or a few weeks to cool off, and then bring it up with them again politely, and possibly privately. At times, miscommunication just happen in spite of our best efforts and intents, but trying to fix it while people are still hot or angry usually makes matters worse.