> We don't get to use technology for technologies sake, and pretend it doesn't have social and political consequences or connections.
Nobody is """pretending""" that in this thread.
The reality that is being asserted is that (1) politics doesn't have to be on-topic for every forum, (2) it's very explicitly not the focus of HN, and (3) even if it were on-topic the guidelines are very clear about ways to engage in a civil fashion and a very large number of comments on Musk-related posts are extremely clearly not doing this and breaking the guidelines.
Hence, downvoting and flagging are the correct things to do.
> politics doesn't have to be on-topic for every forum
The idea that you could separate “politics” from a topic as broad as technology is almost laughable. Yes, this is a bad place to discuss election outcomes and candidate nominations. But tech and its social implications are wrapped up in ways that can’t be separated.
A quick skim of your comment history shows you’re very happy to wade into politics, so I feel this is a bad-faith admonishment that attempts to point at guidelines to discourage opinions you disagree with.
Can you please not cross into personal attack? You're right, of course, that technology and politics cannot be separated, and your point about (I'm paraphrasing here) horse-race politics being off topic is well taken. But the last bit was over the line, and not necessary to make your substantive point.
Nobody is """pretending""" that in this thread.
The reality that is being asserted is that (1) politics doesn't have to be on-topic for every forum, (2) it's very explicitly not the focus of HN, and (3) even if it were on-topic the guidelines are very clear about ways to engage in a civil fashion and a very large number of comments on Musk-related posts are extremely clearly not doing this and breaking the guidelines.
Hence, downvoting and flagging are the correct things to do.