Thanks dang. I still have one question though. If what you say is a sufficient explanation, then wouldn't we expect HN users to respond to sarcasm with "Please don't post sarcasm here", or a link to the community guidelines, rather than <response that takes the sarcastic statement at face value>?

I do however agree about the kudzu and that it is better to just keep it at zero. The purpose of my two posts here is to better understand the community within which I work, not to argue for HN policy change.