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We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18009417 and marked it off-topic.

It's an (albeit sarcastic) remark about the very decision-making body talked about in the article. Furthermore, it's in direct response to still active comment:

> I am also not too hopeful about US changing considering its federal-state model. In EU, multiple countries can agree on a decision, but US states are adept at bikeshedding and not getting anything done :(

Detaching mine, while leaving the parent (which created the political tangent in the first place), is an obvious example of moderation from bias.

It isn't just about individual comments; we're looking at the threads as a whole. In the above case, the parent got two subthreads in reply. One was just fine, while the subthread that began with your comment went unhinged. From an overall discussion quality point of view, the snip point seems clear. It isn't personal! And certainly not because of political views—we mostly don't even scan for those.

Choosing where to prune these threads is always a judgment call. You're right that the offtopicness often starts on both sides. But it's a matter of degree. Your comment was a significant degree worse, which is probably why its subthread was significantly lower in quality.

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