Serious question - was this person downvoted because of the particular argument they presented, or because of the quality of the argument? Maybe it&#x27;s the latter, and I&#x27;m just biased. Hacker News bills itself as a civil, open minded discussion forum, and by and large it works out great. However I certainly feel that certain views are not very accepted. If the &quot;taboo&quot; views were <i>explicitly</i> laid out, that would be fine. At least we&#x27;d know where it stands.