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On the one hand, childish replies should be down-voted. I don't think anyone disagrees with that. No one wants 10 deep pun threads or repetitive meme/snowclone exchanges.

On the other hand, there is a certain level toxicity in a community that takes itself seriously enough to complain about a well worded flippant response to a question.

There has to be a balance.

It seems paradoxical that one liners could dominate the comment section. They're only one line!

Of course, I completely agree with you.

Perhaps the real problem is that when a one liner gets upvoted it brings with it the one liner's replies. What's the only valid reply to a one liner? Another one liner, in response to the first, drifting further and further away from the original point of the conversation.

An HN line can be fairly long, and there's nothing wrong with one-liners. Yay for brevity.