> I get the feeling that it was taken down only because it was inconvenient for someone

It's a tempting feeling to get, and a contagious one, but no—the only inconvenience we care about is that of HN readers who don't want to read tedious flamewars tacked like burning barnacles onto the top comment. I'm kind of glad you said that, though, because usually the sinister implication goes the other way, Gitlab being a YC-funded startup and all.

Speaking of convenience, it's not that inconvenient to scroll down to find the flamewar. Seems like a reasonable balance to me.