I don't think dang is saying that the commenter was making false claims or anything. Just that it's very unlikely an upset comment will cause an overhaul in the google auto-update system. But it is very likely an upset comment will scare developers away from commenting on future situations like these. It just affects the health of HN negatively while not affecting Google. There's probably a reason norberg chose to register and comment on HN and not somewhere else like Reddit.
Content is wrong or it isn't. Tone is a logical fallacy.
Your true statement that tone will often matter is an interesting discusson on society and education. That it is also relevent on a site otherwise dedicated to intelligent discourse was the nugget I was hoping people would think about.
