That's sad. I got the same email (word for word to my eyes), and while I don't mind at all when people email me via HN it's pretty obnoxious that I spent 10 minutes out of my day writing a pleasant and thoughtful response to someone who couldn't be bothered to do the same.

I hope this doesn't cause me to second guess the next email I get from an HN user, since so far this is pretty aberrant in my experience and I've been really delighted to be in touch with the (admittedly few) folks who've pinged me this way.