Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the comment I was replying to: > I read that left-wing people are consistently found to be much more able to process conflicting ideas than right-wing people are. Nothing in your guidelines tells me how this comment is ok, but somehow my reply is not.
I've replied to them now with the same appeal. But someone else's breach of the guidelines doesn't excuse your own. Rather than escalating when you see a bad comment, you'd be better to flag the comment, or email us (hn@ycombinator.com) so we can see it and take action sooner.
OK, that's fair. I don't deny I broke the rules there. I was just surprised at the unevenness because I assumed you had seen the context.