Fair but I don't think account age should be left isolated when discussing these things and saying 'you just showed up' for a genuine - and frankly, long overdue - discussion on a pretty pressing issue is out of place if we are supposed to be the 'better alternative'. The time for sticking our fingers in our ears and pretending everything is great is long past and given HN's own issues with finding the balance between doing our jobs, aiming for something better and doing so responsibly we should be very wary of falling into the trap that allows us to pretend nothing is going on because all relevant discussions get flagged. That's abdication and the tech world is super good at this.
zfg raises a valid point. So either debate them on merit or let it go (downvote, move on, whatever) but don't pull rank without engaging the actual subject matter. They are pointing out that HN does not work in this sense and it is - at least to me - abundantly clear that they have a point. For myself, I've given up. I've seen the most idiotic exchanges go without counter because I suspect more people have given up. zfg has not given up, yet, in part because they have just joined. They are still in the honeymoon phase and probably can't imagine why HN would be actively discouraging discussion around some of the most important issues facing the tech world today.
You're welcome to agree with zfg's point and argue its merits. They certainly haven't so that might be an improvement. Dismissing mine as 'pulling rank' is just rude and lame. I've engaged with this person over a whole bunch of comments, I've tried to be clear and reasonably polite. I certainly didn't expect you to 'come of out retirement' to be a jerk to me - it doesn't seem worth it beside being totally out of line.
zfg raises a valid point. So either debate them on merit or let it go (downvote, move on, whatever) but don't pull rank without engaging the actual subject matter. They are pointing out that HN does not work in this sense and it is - at least to me - abundantly clear that they have a point. For myself, I've given up. I've seen the most idiotic exchanges go without counter because I suspect more people have given up. zfg has not given up, yet, in part because they have just joined. They are still in the honeymoon phase and probably can't imagine why HN would be actively discouraging discussion around some of the most important issues facing the tech world today.