Actually I think you've been starting a large number of them—or at least significantly worsening.
"Start" is rather a dubious concept to begin with, as everyone always feels like the other person started it and did worse. This is one of the most reliable phenomena on HN (and no doubt with internet forums in general) - you can set your clock by it.
> Actually I think you've been starting a large number of them—or at least significantly worsening.
I can't think of any I started. Even this thread wasn't started by me. And my response wasn't that flamebaity. I was simply giving my honest opinion to actual flamebait.
> "Start" is rather a dubious concept to begin with, as everyone always feels like the other person started it.
I suppose. But in most cases, you can just climb the comment tree to find the root.
Also, I see tons of flamebait here. I ignore most of them. For example, this guy loves to flamebait.
Yet you haven't censured him. It's only when I respond and bring the flamebait to light, that you would recognize it. Maybe it's time for comments to have a report link where we can report flamebait? Or is flamebait allowed as long as no one takes the bait?
The simple reason is that we don't see everything that gets posted here. Actually we barely see 1% of what gets posted here. So if you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it. You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com.
Other people breaking the rules doesn't make it ok for you to break them, though. That should go without saying.
"Start" is rather a dubious concept to begin with, as everyone always feels like the other person started it and did worse. This is one of the most reliable phenomena on HN (and no doubt with internet forums in general) - you can set your clock by it.