In my experience there is almost always an easily identifiable reason for a post being downvoted, and it's usually a good one. It's very avoidable if you engage your brain into "do not offend" mode before posting, which I find quite a positive habit to develop in other areas of life as well.
In the case of your comment, the downvotes can be traced to your use of the unnecessarily negative word "obsession". You implied that people who want Lisp to be more popular are mentally unbalanced, even though this is a quite understandable thing to want. And you must admit that your reasoning is, at the very least, quite arguable, and warranted a greater tone of humility. Insults derived from dubious reasoning are a surefire recipe for downvotes. If you had concluded your post with "so it doesn't appear all that important to me for Lisp to be popular in an absolute sense" I think you would have been fine.
You're absolutely right - I'm used to talking to reasonably well-adjusted, grown up adults with a thick skin and a sense of humour. That's often not the case here, so unless you agonise over every single word and avoid speaking directly, your posts will go grey.
Again, I'm a bad cultural fit. Not apportioning blame, I'm sure many here see me as a rude provocateur for my cavalier use of the word 'obsess'. That's life.
But you are apportioning blame. You are calling HN a bunch of unbalanced, immature children with a thin skin and no sense of humor.
But, if you've such a thick skin, why obsess over downvotes? They mean nothing except that your post annoyed someone enough for them to click a little button. If you're so convinced it's HN and not you that's the problem, why should it bother you?
> "You are calling HN a bunch of unbalanced, immature children with a thin skin and no sense of humor."
Did you not say essentially the same? Worded differently, but a comment to the same effect. Why hassle that commenter over different wordings of the same concept?
In the case of your comment, the downvotes can be traced to your use of the unnecessarily negative word "obsession". You implied that people who want Lisp to be more popular are mentally unbalanced, even though this is a quite understandable thing to want. And you must admit that your reasoning is, at the very least, quite arguable, and warranted a greater tone of humility. Insults derived from dubious reasoning are a surefire recipe for downvotes. If you had concluded your post with "so it doesn't appear all that important to me for Lisp to be popular in an absolute sense" I think you would have been fine.