Are you telling me that every truth you have ever recognized has been conveyed to you in the most collegial of ways?
I can recall a number of occasions where somebody told me something important and they might as well have started out with "Look, asshole". Deservedly so, because I was not just wrong but wrong in a way that was conveniently self-serving and harmful to them.
I would also like to see the dickishness taken down a notch or three here. But if it comes at the cost of making this more of an echo chamber, then it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
There are plenty of places on the Internet where you can get your "truth" or whatever in a medium of abuse.
The people running this site have asked that this not be one of them.
I say this as a person who appreciates and uses sarcasm more than most... people can communicate just fine, often more effectively, without it.
Plus, it's more than just how something is said. If you read PG's short request, he's looking for a change in attitude in how points are even argued. Argue as colleagues coming to a solution together, not as adversaries trying to take each other down.
Point to a single place where the policy even implies that uncomfortable truths are not endorsable?
Like I said, I'm sarcastic - but I definitely have seen HN go downhill since I've been here over the last couple of years. I look at the need to say things more constructively as a learning and growth opportunity.
Uncomfortable truths are uncomfortable. People often confuse discomfort with wrongness.
The policy doesn't have to say that people shouldn't endorse uncomfortable truths for it to have that result. That people will misuse power to keep comfortable is something that you shouldn't have to have explained to you.
I can recall a number of occasions where somebody told me something important and they might as well have started out with "Look, asshole". Deservedly so, because I was not just wrong but wrong in a way that was conveniently self-serving and harmful to them.
I would also like to see the dickishness taken down a notch or three here. But if it comes at the cost of making this more of an echo chamber, then it will be a Pyrrhic victory.