Yeah, you shouldn't be able to downmod below -1. That's enough to send the signal. Otherwise people will just keep downmodding and go in for the kill.

I heartily disagree about you wanting YC to stay one of a kind though. The beauty of our capitalist society is that if anyone wants to try to do it better, they can give it a shot. It's to YC's credit that so many people want to copy it. And I think they welcome that.

i think people wouldn't have downmodded you to this extent if you had said the above instead of "puke". it's the "what do i make of that response" irritation which causes people to do that.