from HN comment guidelines (http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

  "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" 
  can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

Parent comment can be shortened to "".

  Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless 
  you have something genuinely new to say about them.

  Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never 
  does any good, and it makes boring reading.

A good litmus test for knowing whether to post a comment on HN: is it useful?

If it is merely funny, trolling, or otherwise flippant, there are many other sites where such posts are at least tacitly encouraged.

Sure, asked and answered.

But this question in particular is discouraged. Follow HN for any length of time and you see the answer. If you want a meta-thread about posting, create one. But this thread is (was) about security.

> Am I not even allowed to criticize you or ask questions?

Sure you are. You're also welcome to leave if the community norms for voting are not in line with your own.

All communities have some degree of self policing. Those that allow any commentary to go by usually end up embroiled in vitriol and snark. HN strives to keep a specific level of intelligence (to varying degrees of success). As was stated elsewhere, and I mean no disrespect by this, if the community-enforced standards of comment quality do not appeal to you, you have the choices of (A) not commenting, (B) spending more time asking yourself if your comments will be deemed acceptable by the community or (C) leaving.

I too like to fire off witty, snarky comments. But after a few of them got torn apart vote-wise, I now spend more time asking myself if I will be adding anything useful to the discussion. While I try to refuse the allure of groupthink just so I can get the rush of seeing my karma count move up, I do attempt to at least find a way to state my opinion in a way that is palatable and intelligent.