1. You are the user in question that is a co-founder for PIA.
2. You are a direct competitor to Proton*
3. "Messengers", especially in the position of founder of the competitor, have significant bias.
4. You have a fiduciary reason for them to fail.
5. user protonmail has noted significant harassment regarding this issue
Im inclined to distrust both of you. I find that your arguments might have merit. But I also see you as a digital aggressor. I don't particularly like either.
It's neither religion, nor politics. It's tech. You don't need to believe in anything you cannot verify yourself. I have checked most of the statements provided by the co-founder of PIA, and found none of them to be false, even if he sometimes crossed the line of a civil discussion.
I'm sure the poster was addressing "Focus on the facts. Not the messenger."
As was listed, there are plenty of good reasons to learn about the messenger, just like how looking up my comment history will show my propensity for calling this argument out. You know my ulterior motives and where I'm coming from.
Those types of comments (yours and the general back-and-forth with ProtonMail) make the VPN industry look like it's full of sharks. It's hurting all of you. It makes you look unprofessional. Before seeing this I had a favourable impression of PIA, but not anymore.
EDIT: I'm sure the competition is intense and I'm not sure I would be able to rise above it myself but I think you need to be aware of what it looks like.
Focus on the facts. Not the messenger. Secondly, I admire your love of this discussion [1].
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17497912