I didn't see it as tone policing. From my point of view, I saw a very interesting application being shared and I hoped it would be good and prosperous so i can use it. When the first comment says "i hate that you do X" it is a bit discouraging towards a team of developers who have probably poured tons of free hours into making this. Words play with psychology, and it is my personal interest that these devs have good morale to make this app great, and that meand giving them feedback about obvious mistakes in a tone that does not hurt this morale. I hope that make sense
Comments like the one above do not belong here at all, it's childish, it brings absolutely 0 value to readers, and it's against the guidelines because it degrades the quality of HN for everyone.
What is considered impolite in the US or the UK is considered just being straightforward in e.g. Scandinavia.
I am German, we're kind of in the middle between someone from e.g. Finland and someone from e.g. or the UK or US with what we consider "ok" or rather crossing into rude territory.
A common exchange I witnessed in a meeting at work (Nokia):
Finnish developer: And if we follow this suggestion we will all look like idiots.
UK developer: I hear you.
Deciding which one is more impolite or impolite at all is left as an exercise to the reader. ;)
It's not normal to see someone doing x behavior, initiate a conversation with them and say "I hate x behavior." They're not tone policing you when they tell you that you come off like an asshole when you do that.
