The HN ethos has one rule: Each level of comments shall disagree with the level before it, with the article counting as level 0.
First-tier comments shall disagree with the article. Second-tier comments shall disagree with first-tier comments and agree with the article if necessary (but only when necessary). Third-tier comments shall disagree with second-tier comments and may or may not be related to the article, and so on.
Now this comment can neither agree nor disagree. Barber shaving their own head and such. EDIT: now I realize not really since the above being false doesn't force me to agree.
All articles are true in some sense, false in some some sense, and meaningless in some sense.
All comments are true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, true in some sense, false in some some sense, and meaningless in some sense.
that's very good, but there are some exceptions. If the article is about any health related topics, terminal illnesses, diet studies, etc., no matter how interesting, all comments shall be tangentially related personal anecdotes.
Of course, this is not the ethos, and whatshisface is completely wrong on account of also of having a forgettable name. I'll often see someone chime in to agree as well as to disagree, to clarify. It's all just a bit.
First-tier comments shall disagree with the article. Second-tier comments shall disagree with first-tier comments and agree with the article if necessary (but only when necessary). Third-tier comments shall disagree with second-tier comments and may or may not be related to the article, and so on.