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> and in general this site also has a massive trend of people who are losing a debate leaning in to rules-lawyering as a means of suppressing disagreement etc.

Is this specific to or more prevalent on this site though? Seems like common human/business behaviour. If you can’t win on merit, win on technicality, etc.



You're correct, it is common. However, it's the sell. That is, HN sells itself on not being The Common; perhaps even better than The Common. So the irony is, those defaulting to such nonsense should be the ones being down voted (for violating the community standard), and instead they take up the role of The Down Vote Police and/or disingenuous countering arguments.




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