If I took the meat out of the sandwich, the sandwich would go downhill, too. Selectively quoting just the crust of a comment and loudly disclaiming about the quality of the discourse - possibly you're right about the quality, but if so then I'm exhibit A, and you're exhibit B.
Lord! Do it yourself!
Your complaints infuriate me!
It feels like at some point the quality of the discourse on hackernews went downhill.