The problem with humor is when people trying to have an actual discussion are overwhelmed by people just posting tired slashdot cliches. Look at reddit...there are great comments there, but they're usually buried by pages of people snarking on the top comment. After a while, people stop trying. If you think you have a witty remark that doesn't really feed discussion, it's probably better to let it go, or to flesh it out with something more substantial.
Not responding to something like that for 24 hours (or even just ten minutes) is a great idea. Off-the-cuff reactions are often pretty defensive. If you have an articulate counter-argument, that's different, of course.
Also, as a general rule, it's probably worth trying to avoid being snide. In purely written conversations, it's easy enough to read criticism into comments that are just too terse, and you're responding to another person, not a text box. Be respectful, regardless of how you feel about their ideas. (I tend to edit my comments quite a bit. Often, on re-reading, I realize that my attempt at being concise made me sound like a dick instead.)
> it's probably better to let it go, or to flesh it out with something more substantial
My thought on this exactly. When in doubt, elaborate.
There are many times I come up with something I think is fairly clever to say, but I'll resist saying it unless I can find something genuinely useful to say as well. Sure, my fellow HNers might have to miss out on all my wit and charm, but at least if the joke flops, the (hopefully) relevant comment that follows might redeem it a bit.
In this particular situation, I think the reaction would have been much different if "What's the difference?" was followed by roughly the same explanation of your line of thinking as posted here...
As for kyro's remark, while it strikes me as a bit trigger happy, it doesn't seem particularly insulting. If anything, I'm curious how he extrapolated "childish, baseless, and condescending" out of three relatively innocuous words. It seems like you'd have to write more words to be all three of those things.
Anyway, not like anyone actually cares about my view on this, but I can't resist the opportunity to go all meta every once in a while.
Not responding to something like that for 24 hours (or even just ten minutes) is a great idea. Off-the-cuff reactions are often pretty defensive. If you have an articulate counter-argument, that's different, of course.
Also, as a general rule, it's probably worth trying to avoid being snide. In purely written conversations, it's easy enough to read criticism into comments that are just too terse, and you're responding to another person, not a text box. Be respectful, regardless of how you feel about their ideas. (I tend to edit my comments quite a bit. Often, on re-reading, I realize that my attempt at being concise made me sound like a dick instead.)