> Especially when you have a usually informed HN audience sticking up for it.
It's pretty on-brand for the HN audience I feel. For several years HN has felt like the epitome of the temporarily embarassed millionare meme. The site often supports corporations taking what they can for users, and the only reason I can see for people to feel so strongly about it is they either are or imagine themselves in the future to be stakeholders in companies that make their money from exploiting consumers.
It goes deeper than that, it's just easier to call out when it's a corporation as rich and large enough as HP being defended. There's a more base "blame the victim to avoid having to acknowledge something is wrong and having to do anything about it" mindset at work. If the reader blames the victim (for not reading what "HP Instant Ink" service actually is) then the reader doesn't have to do anything. After all, it's the victim's fault for not reading the contract/having infinite knowledge/wearing too short a dress. If there was anything wrong with the attacker's behavior then the reader would have to get outraged and do something, or respond with something deeply cynical, powerless and defeated.
It's pretty on-brand for the HN audience I feel. For several years HN has felt like the epitome of the temporarily embarassed millionare meme. The site often supports corporations taking what they can for users, and the only reason I can see for people to feel so strongly about it is they either are or imagine themselves in the future to be stakeholders in companies that make their money from exploiting consumers.