These threads have all become the same hellish flamewar, endlessly repeated. That's automatically off topic on HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html), regardless of how important the underlying story is.

I don't see how this place has any obligation to host flamewars that destroy it, any more than a building has an obligation to let a fire burn it down. On the contrary, we have a duty not to burn down, and need to do more to prevent it. We've been tirelessly asking HN commenters to please not destroy the commons for years, but the users posting in these threads are doing it more, and worse. Tireless asking is clearly insufficient, and from my perspective we could use more flags, not fewer.

Going directly to internet failure mode doesn't help anyone, let alone oppressed peoples. Moreover, if you see as much of this as I do, it becomes painfully obvious what these angry arguments are really about: highly-activated tribal emotion. In that sense they are an expression of the problem, not any step toward solution.

I posted about this earlier today, if anyone wants more explanation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26637365