

 This is the title of a typical incendiary blog post - jsm386
http://faultline.org/index.php/site/item/incendiary/

======
luigi
This is the comment where I begin a new comment thread, in hopes that it'll be
more prominent than if I had just contributed to the existing comment thread.

This is the sentence where I really don't add anything to the conversation,
but simply seek to obtain more upvotes. This is the sentence where you decide
to downvote me because you find my ruse to be so blatantly obvious.

~~~
Deestan
This comment shamelessly replies something vaguely relevant to the highest
scoring root comment in the hope of attracting trickle-down karma.

~~~
thinkzig
This is the comment where I show everyone how much I paid attention in English
class by correcting the (grammar|punctuation|spelling|turn of phrase) you used
in your comment while contributing nothing to the discussion at hand.

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sophacles
This is the sentence in which I ask a question taking the incindiary post at
face value. This sentence is a common-sense answer to my question, starting
with "it seems that". This is the sentence in which I suggest that maybe
conventional wisdom is correct. This sentence states a fact to support my
suggestion.

This sentence attacks the blog for fallacious reasoning. This one points out
the [strawman|false dilemma| other]. This sentence suggests that if the
central argument is based on a fallacious point, the whole thing could be
wrong. This is the sentence where I backpedal a bit and declare fallacious
reasoning is not strictly indicative of an incorrect conclusion.

Edit: This is the edit where I poke fun at mistakes in my hastily typed
response above.

~~~
carbocation
This is the sentence in which I invoke my [Yale|Harvard|Princeton|Caltech|MIT]
diploma and lay into you with a subtle ad hominem. This is the sentence in
which I narrow the problem to 1% of its original scope, eliminating the most
useful and difficult 99%. This is the sentence in which I then solve that 1%,
invoking advanced statistical techniques as I do so. This is the sentence in
which I act far more humble than my accomplishment merited.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
>lay into you with a subtle ad hominem

This is the pedantic reply in which I suggest that you might actually be
thinking of _argumentum ad verecundiam_ rather than _argumentum ad hominem_.

Edit: this is the edit in which I italicize the Latin terms above to make
myself sound more erudite.

~~~
carbocation
This is the ashamed reply in which I falsely reinterpret my original sentence,
claiming that I intended _both_ argumenta. This is the sentence in which I
emit additional additional argumenta, which I just looked up in Wikipedia.

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dkimball
This sentence is an aloof expression of awe at the intensity of the reaction
to an obvious troll.

This sentence cites an obscure [Russian expatriate|investigative
journalist|fringe physicist|absurdly cross-disciplinary|Eric Scott
Raymond|Theodore Dalrymple] author with a coherent yet slightly cranky theory
that [explodes|confirms] the argument of the blog post. This sentence was
originally a veiled insult directed at everyone who hasn't already read the
book, but was edited.

This sentence is an admission of the irony inherent in laughing off the
subject followed by arguing about it.

~~~
KC8ZKF
This is a comment where I point out a minor factual inaccuracy in your comment
that does not affect your thesis in any way.

~~~
dkimball
This is the comment where I spend entirely too much effort correcting that
inaccuracy.

~~~
Semiapies
This is the comment where I try to recast this argument in terms of the two
major US political parties, while clearly showing my allegiance to one.

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Semiapies
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_is_the_Vaguely_Relevant_Ar...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_is_the_Vaguely_Relevant_Article_Linked_without_Comment_or_Context)

------
ErrantX
This is a comment in which I haven't read the blog and make some wild rebuttal
of a completely irrelevant point based on the title of the submission.

~~~
Confusion
This is the comment in which I point out how irrelevant your point is. This is
the sentence in which I address the point you made, while excusing myself for
continuing the offtopic discussion.

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Semiapies
This is the opening of my remark, where I warn that my out-of-the-box thinking
will probably get me down-voted, because the people I'm choosing to share my
precious idea with are just that close-minded and contemptible.

This is the actual content of my remark, which is somewhat contrary to what
some (but not all) people in the discussion have already said. Here is why I
try to emphasize how radical and yet somehow self-evident my opinion is,
despite it not really being either.

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tptacek
This is the comment where I bring this thread back around to the topic of how
you hash your passwords, that being all I ever talk about around here.

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dabent
This is a comment that states that this isn't Hacker News and has been
flagged.

~~~
cperciva
This is a comment which quotes the part of the Hacker News Guidelines which
state "if you flag something, please don't also comment that you did".

------
niyazpk
This is a comment where I point out that the article is good, but the title is
slightly misleading and a link-baiting exercise.

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crux_
I miss the old kuro5hin too, you guys.
(<http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/5/31/7738/22985>)

Edit to add link to this, referenced in the comments there, and reasonably
awesome:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=281ax7Ovlsg>

~~~
Semiapies
Also, <http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2006/04/07/4991>

------
gamble
This is the pithy offhand comment that gets ten times more upvotes than any
well-reasoned and thoughtful response you'll ever write.

------
vinutheraj
This is the comment in which I say something which is totally irrelevant to
the topic and end up contributing nothing to discussion

------
Semiapies
This is the angry comment where I note that this topic has been-upvoted quite
a bit and has dozens of comments, but the post on _terribly important issue I
care about_ has received no such attention.

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GHFigs
This is the comment where I link to Norvig without adding any insight of my
own.

<http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html>

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Semiapies
This is the comment where I say HN is turning into Reddit because of posts
like this.

~~~
cperciva
This the comment where I quote the part of the Hacker News Guidelines which
recommend that "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit
comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit".

~~~
Semiapies
This is the comment where I complain about people down-voting me and demand to
know why they are doing so.

~~~
gjm11
This is the comment where I remark that I have downvoted you for complaining
about downvotes, as I always do.

(Meta: it is _bloody hard_ to balance the competing requirements of giving
comments the votes they deserve for cleverness here, and giving them the votes
the comments they're self-referential placeholders for should have had.)

~~~
Semiapies
This is the comment where I stiffly thank the parent commenter for eir
explanation.

(Meta: I'd avoided trying to do the latter, lest I punish people for
referencing a type of comment I don't like.)

------
Calamitous
This is the most awesome HN thread ever.

------
araneae
This is the comment where I say something about how the blog post relates to
my own life, which no one cares about.

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gjm11
This is where I point out (as I did on the original) that the author is
shamelessly stealing an old idea from David Moser:
<http://consc.net/misc/moser.html> (which, btw, is well worth reading for
anyone who hasn't seen it already).

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chipsy
This is the comment where I fly into a violent rage because someone had the
notion of bringing up such an outrageous idea, and attempt to shut down the
idea through a combination of wild accusation and difficult-to-verify
conjecture.

~~~
Semiapies
This is the comment where someone having a bad morning decides to jump into
the fray with the parent commenter by arguing back just as intemperately.

------
Semiapies
This is the comment complaining about incendiary blog posts being so typical,
lately.

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seldo
This is a comment where I take an obvious corollary of the thesis and state it
as if it, too, is a dazzling insight, in a shameless attempt to gain HN karma.

------
Semiapies
This is the comment where I note a moderately interesting aspect of the issue,
but as the discussion has already tapered off, nobody will notice it.

~~~
Kejistan
This is the comment where I apologize for downvoting you. This is _not_ a
comment where I make any reference to the article.

------
Semiapies
TL;DR: This sentence contains the thesis of the blog post, a trite and obvious
statement cast as a dazzling and controversial insight.

~~~
olavk
This comment further simplifies the thesis into an obviously trivial and
tautological form.

This sentence then points out that there is nothing new or insightful in the
simplified thesis.

------
Sapient
I am glad to see that the replies here have been humerous - Hackernews can be
a little too serious sometimes.

------
Semiapies
This is the comment where I express appreciation for the post in a single,
bland remark free of real content.

------
trobertson
This is the comment decrying the drop in quality on HN, and ask for
fascinating articles about Erlang.

~~~
Semiapies
This is the comment where I say you really avoid the problem in the article if
you just code in Common Lisp.

------
burke
Ceci n'est pas une comment.

~~~
duncanj
This is the reply where I pick apart the French in the previous comment, and
show that it doesn't say what the commenter wanted it to say.

~~~
burke
Ceci est le commentaire où je signale que j'ai arrêté l'apprentissage du
français en 10 e année :(

------
Deestan
This is the soon-to-be-dead spam post linking to a page selling cheap replica
watches.

------
nuba
What a fine bait for those who gloat in form over content.

